LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

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THE    MAKING  OF  A 
MERCHANT 


THE  MAKING  OF  A 
MERCHANT 


BY 

HARLO\V  X.  HIGIXBOTHAM 


SECOXD  EDITIOX 

^* 

UNIVERSE 


CHICAGO 

FORBES  &  COMPANY 
1906 


f      :^f 


COPYRIGHT,  1902,  1903, 1906 

BY 
THE  CURTIS  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

COPYRIGHT,  1906 

BY 
FORBES  &  COMPANY 

All  Rights  Reserved 


PREFACE 

COMMENT  of  any  practical  value  on  the  sub- 
ject of  the  mistakes  most  frequent  among 
boys  and  young  men  entering  on  a  business  life  is 
certain  to  meet  with  one  criticism  which  may  be 
epitomized  in  the  single  word  "commonplace!"  And 
why  ?  Because  these  faults  are  so  common  that  they 
are  impressed  on  the  attention  of  every  large  em- 
ployer of  labor,  particularly  in  commercial  lines,  and 
he  is  compelled  to  reiterate  them  with  emphasis  and 
tiresome  persistency.  If  they  were  less  common, 
less  universally  recognized  and  uniformly  disap- 
proved by  employers,  their  enumeration  would  not 
appeal  to  their  victim  as  commonplace,  stereotyped 
and  uninteresting. 

Occasionally,  however,  a  boy  or  young  man  of 
sufficient  character  and  receptivity  is  found  who  is 
willing  and  eager  to  profit  by  advice  from  those  of 
long  experience,  even  though  it  may  be  given  in 
painfully  familiar  terms  and  may  sound  sage,  tedi- 
ous and  "preachy."  It  is  for  the  aspiring  young 
men  who  are  animated  by  this  spirit  of  tractability 
that  these  suggestions  and  comments  are  made  by 


162824 


one  whose  views  are  the  result  of  thirty-eight  years 
of  experience  in  unbroken  connection  with  an  enter- 
prise that  has  had  many  changes  in  the  personnel 
of  proprietorship  and  now  has  more  than  seven 
thousand  employees. 

In  the  course  of  that  service  he  has  filled  various 
positions  from  the  very  humblest  to  that  of  part 
proprietor  and  manager.  With  the  exception  of  his 
earliest  years,  all  this  period  of  labor  has  brought 
him  into  direct  personal  contact  with  the  young 
employees,  and  the  responsibilities  of  his  position 
have  compelled  a  daily  and  unremitting  watchful- 
ness of  their  conduct  with  the  view  to  determining 
faults  and  mistakes  which  most  beset  the  young 
adventurer  into  the  mazes  of  commercial  activity. 

H.  N.  H. 

Chicago,  1906. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.     Laying  the  Foundation 9 

II.     Advancement    in    Business 19 

III.  The  Qualities  That  Make  a  Merchant 32 

IV.  Details   That   Spell   Success 48 

V.     Buying  Merchandise 79 

VI.     The  Treatment  of  Employees 86 

VII.     The   Department   Store 96 

VIII.     Management  of  Department  Stores 108 

THE  EXTENSION   OF   CREDIT 

IX.  The  Qualifications  of  a  Good  Credit  Man.  139 

X.  Difficulties  and  Dangers  of  Credit 159 

XI.  Rewards  and  Humors  of  the  Credit  Desk.  190 

XII.  The  Storekeeper's  Credits  and  Collections .  205 


THE  MAKING  OF  A  MERCHANT 


CHAPTER    I 
LAYING  THE  FOUNDATION 

AS  a  majority  of  business  positions  today  are 
filled  by  men  who  entered  the  harness  as  boys, 
the  manner  in  which  a  boy  looks  at  his  first  employ- 
ment is  of  fundamental  importance.  Generally  he 
does  not  take  himself  or  his  duties  with  sufficient 
seriousness.  He  is  inclined  to  think  that  he  is  "only  a 
boy,"  and  that  his  work  is  of  boyish  inconsequence. 
Nothing  could  be  further  from  the  real  facts  than 
such  an  impression.  To  realize  this  it  is  only 
necessary  to  go  into  the  office  of  any  large  estab- 
lishment— the  business  heart  of  a  commercial  enter- 
prise— and  observe  the  swarms  of  boys  that  flit 
between  the  desks  of  the  older  workers. 

Who  is  always  at  the  elbow  of  the  executive 
head  of  an  establishment  of  this  kind?  A  boy! 
He  comes  into  closer  and  more  continuous  contact 
with  the  proprietor,  the  general  manager,  or  the 

9 


THE   MAKING  OF  A   MERCHANT 

department  head  than  any  adult.  Because  he  is 
"only  a  boy"  he  is  party  to  private  conversations 
and  transactions  from  which  even  the  "confidential 
man"  might  be  barred.  This  means  responsibility 
and  opportunity,  and  his  conduct  is,  therefore,  of 
greater  personal  interest  and  moment  to  a  busi- 
ness executive  than  he  is  generally  inclined  to- 
think. 

Boys  fail  to  satisfy  the  demands  made  upon 
them  more  from  the  lack  of  promptness  and 
punctuality  than  by  any  other  reason.  Thousands 
of  dismissals,  rebuffs,  discouragements  and  failures 
at  the  beginning  of  a  career  could  have  been 
avoided  by  these  small  workers  had  they  made  a 
cardinal  point  of  being  always  on  hand  in  their 
proper  places  during  every  moment  when  subject 
to  duty.  It  is  not  enough  that  they  should  be 
generally  at  their  stations.  The  time  is  sure  to 
come,  no  matter  how  sparingly  they  allow  them- 
selves the  indulgence  of  straying  only  a  little  from 
the  rigid  requirements  of  ofHce  rules,  when  they 
will  be  suddenly  wanted — and  will  be  found 
wanting ! 

Many  fall  into  the  habit  of  being  a  few  rods, 
or  perhaps  only  a  few  feet,  from  the  spot  where 
they  are  expected  to  be.  This  means  that  the 
busy  employer  must  leave  his  desk  or  resort  to 

10 


THE   MAKING   OF   A    MERCHANT 

a  little  extra  effort  to  secure  their  attention.  The 
actual  inconvenience  may  seem  trifling,  but  he  is 
annoyed.  If  very  charitable,  he  says,  "That's  the 
boy  of  it,"  and  patiently  gives  the  little  toiler 
another  chance.  But  the  boy  has  failed  to  come 
up  to  reasonable  requirements,  and  suffers  accord- 
ingly in  the  estimation  of  the  man  that  depends 
upon  him  for  a  certain  service. 

Another  seemingly  petty  fault  very  common  to 
the  younger  employees  is  the  habit  of  watching 
the  clock.  This  is  little  short  of  infuriating  to 
the  man  who  is  genuinely  and  seriously  absorbed 
in  his  business.  It  tells  him  that  the  spirit  of 
time  serving  instead  of  the  welfare  of  the  business 
is  the  controlling  force  in  the  work  of  such  an 
employee.  This  is  peculiarly  irritating  to  the  man 
who  has  a  thoughtful  and  conscientious  grasp  of 
the  serious  side  of  business  life.  Any  large 
employer  of  labor,  particularly  in  office  positions, 
will  place  heartfelt  emphasis  on  the  advice:  Let 
the  clock  take  care  of  itself,  and  show  a  disposition 
to  be  useful  without  regard  to  time  or  closing 
bells!  This  is  the  secret  by  which  a  boy  or  a 
young  man  of  even  mediocre  talents  may  win  the 
approval  of  those  whom  he  serves.  "Anything  but 
a  time  server!"  has  been  the  exasperated  exclama- 
tion that  has  preceded  many  a  dismissal. 

ii 


THE   MAKING   OF  A    MERCHANT 

Quickness  to  perceive  the  little  things  which 
annoy  a  busy  executive  and  promptness  in  removing 
them  has  secured  the  promotion  of  scores  of  boys 
and  young  men  who,  as  the  saying  goes,  "have 
their  wits  about  them."  Proprietors  and  managers 
of  large  businesses  are  human  and  susceptible  to 
those  delicate  personal  attentions  which  count  so 
largely  in  home  and  social  life.  And  the  fact 
that  such  an  attention  comes  from  a  boy  and  amid 
the  hurry  of  business  and  the  commercial  surround- 
ings of  an  office  only  goes  "to  make  these  exhibi- 
tions of  thoughtfulness  more  acceptable,  pleasing 
and  conspicuous. 

In  a  very  large  degree,  whatever  of  success  I 
have  been  able  to  achieve  in  the  mercantile  field 
is  due  to  reaching  out  for  new  responsibilities  and 
doing  new  things  without  being  told.  The  man 
who  rejoices  the  heart  of  the  head  of  a  great 
business  is  the  man  who  sees  something  to  do 
and  does  it  without  asking  any  questions.  Of 
course,  I  do  not  mean  by  this  that  any  employee 
should  recklessly  usurp  the  duties  or  responsi- 
bilities of  another  or  of  his  employer;  but  within 
the  bounds  of  reason  be  should  be  extending  the 
radius  of  his  authority  and  responsibility,  and 
lifting  that  much,  as  it  were,  from  the  shoulders 
of  his  employer.  The  latter  is  quick  to  see  the 

12 


THE  MAKING  OF  A   MERCHANT 

force  and  value  of  such  a  servant  and  inwardly 
remarks:  "Here  is  a  man  WUG  not  only  acts,  but 
thinks  for  me.  He  sees  through  the  eyes  of  my 
own  self-interest  and  initiates  and  executes  in  my 
stead." 

As  to  the  matters  of  conduct  on  the  part  of 
employees  which  may  appear  to  be  of  greater 
moment,  it  is  worth  while  to  lay  stress  on  the 
characteristic  of  decision — the  inclination  to  act 
quickly  on  individual  responsibility  and  stand  by 
the  consequences.  Rashness  may  be  less  at  a 
premium  in  commercial  than  military  life;  but 
timidity  is  as  much  to  be  avoided  in  the  one  as 
in  the  other  field  of  activity.  Better  by  far,  make 
an  occasional  mistake  of  judgment  than  to  halt 
and  hesitate  over  the  routine  item  of  business  and 
consult  a  superior  on  affairs  which  are  not 
of  sufficiently  unusual  character  to  demand 
the  special  exercise  of  executive  discretion  and 
authority. 

Readiness  cheerfully  to  go  anywhere  at  a 
moment's  notice  and  at  whatever  personal  incon- 
venience, to  remain  absent  from  home  for  any 
length  of  time  that  the  exigencies  of  business  may 
demand,  and  to  make  the  interests  of  the  employer 
his  own,  is  a  most  appreciated  quality  in  an 
employee.  It  never  fails  to  secure  appreciation. 

13 


THE   MAKING   OF  A   MERCHANT 

A  turning  point  of  th1':,  kind  in  my  own  experience 
so  aptly  illustrates  u.is  observation  that  its  intro- 
duction here  may  be  pardonable. 

In  those  early  days,  travel  by  rail  was  a 
positive  hardship  compared  with  present  conditions. 
Sleeping  cars  were  unknown,  and  trains  jolted  over 
rough  roadbeds  at  snail  pace.  It  took  twenty-four 
hours  to  go  from  Chicago  to  the  Missouri  River, 
and  the  most  active  young  man  was  not  anxious 
to  leave  his  home  and  suffer  the  inconvenience 
and  hard  knocks  of  such  a  trip.  One  day,  however, 
I  was  called  into  Mr.  Letter's  office  and  asked  if 
I  would  go  out  to  a  distant  prairie  town  and 
attempt  the  collection  of  a  bill  of  $1,400  against 
a  country  merchant.  That  meant  much  more  then 
than  it  would  now,  and  although  I  realized  the 
responsibility  of  the  mission,  and  its  difficulties 
and  hardships,  I  promptly  and  cheerfully  accepted 
the  proposal. 

From  the  moment  I  took  the  train  I  had  no 
other  thought  than  that  of  accomplishing  the  object 
for  which  I  had  been  sent.  I  determined  to  get 
that  money  no  matter  how  long  I  had  to  stay  for 
it,  or  how  much  hard  work  or  inconvenience  might 
be  involved. 

Arriving  at  the  little  village,  I  found  a  repre- 
sentative of  another  wholesale  house,  to  which  the 

14 


THE  MAKING  OF  A   MERCHANT 

merchant  was  indebted  in  the  amount  of  $4,000, 
had  been  there  before  me,  looked  the  ground  over 
and  left  on  the  next  train,  abandoning  his  mission 
as  hopeless  for  the  time  being. 

I  was  not  "making  trains,"  and  frankly  told  the 
storekeeper  that  I  had  come  to  stay  until  I  could 
go  away  with  the  firm's  money  in  my  pocket. 
When  he  grasped  the  situation,  he  disclosed  all  his 
private  business  affairs  to  me,  and  I  found  he 
owned  the  local  grain  elevator,  the  hay  scales  and 
other  "outside  deals."  Then  I  secured  from  him 
an  option  on  these,  went  to  other  men  in  the  town 
and  disposed  of  them.  This  reduced  his  account 
by  several  hundred  dollars. 

Then  I  made  a  list  of  the  accounts  he  held 
against  farmers  and  other  residents,  secured  the 
notes  of  the  most  responsible  debtors,  and  dis- 
counted their  paper  at  the  bank.  Finally  I  took 
back  to  Chicago  a  number  of  pieces  of  valuable 
dress  goods  of  which  the  merchant  had  an  over- 
stock. All  these  things  satisfied  the  claim  which 
I  had  been  sent  to  collect. 

It  was  a  proud  moment  for  me  when  I  went 
into  Mr.  Leiter's  private  office  and  gave  an  account 
of  my  week  in  the  prairie  town  collecting  a  bad 
debt.  The  trip  had  a  strong  and  direct  influence 
on  my  advancement.  It  taught  me  a  lesson,  and 

15 


THE  MAKING  OF  A   MERCHANT 

if  it  may  do  as  much  for  any  young  man  of  to-day 
its  narration  is  justified. 

Occasionally  employees  count  on  their  church 
and  Sunday  school  connections  and  activities  as  a 
means  of  impressing  their  employers  with  their 
worthiness.  This  is  a  mis  judgment  of  human 
nature,  and  a  mistake.  Nor  is  this  view  any  reflec- 
tion on  churches  or  religion — although  it  is  an 
undeniable  fact  that  to-day  a  man's  credit  is  not 
strengthened  by  his  church  alliances.  That  which 
injures  a  young  man's  standing  with  his  employer 
in  this  event  is  the  fact  that  he  seeks,  directly  or 
indirectly,  to  make  business  capital  of  his  religious 
affiliations.  It  is  not  what  a  man  believes  or  pro- 
fesses, but  what  he  is  and  does,  that  gives  him 
standing  and  credit. 

A  man  may  make  a  fad  of  so  good  a  thing  as 
a  Sunday  school,  and  it  matters  little  what  the 
fad  followed  by  an  employee  may  be,  the  moment 
its  existence  is  known  to  the  employer  the  latter 
regards  it  as  an  interloping  interest  likely  to  dis- 
tract the  mind  from  business.  This  feeling  may 
be  selfish  and  perhaps  unjust,  but  its  recognition 
is  not  to  be  ignored  by  the  discreet  employee. 

The  knowledge  that  an  employee  belongs  to  a 
club  that  is  not  distinctly  beyond  his  means  is  not 
a  detriment  to  his  advancement.  Often  it  is  an 

16 


THE   MAKING   OF   A    MERCHANT 

advantage.  An  early  marriage,  unless  unfortunate, 
is  a  benefit  to  the  young  salaried  business  man. 
It  is  difficult  to  conceive  of  an  employer  so  devoid 
of  human  feeling  that  he  will  not  take  into  con- 
sideration the  dependent  wives  and  children  in  dis- 
missing and  hiring  employees.  If  compelled  to 
choose  between  a  single  and  a  married  man  of 
equal  merit,  the  conscientious  employer  will  inva- 
riably select  the  latter.  Generally  he  will  even 
"stretch  a  point"  in  favor  of  the  man  of  family. 
Naturally  one  of  the  first  things  for  the  beginner 
in  a  mercantile  house  to  decide  will  be  whether  he 
will  cast  his  lot  with  the  selling  or  the  "office" 
branch  of  the  work.  Too  often  this  is  determined 
by  chance  or  circumstance  instead  of  by  thoughtful 
selection  on  the  part  of  the  person  concerned,  and 
results  in  placing  him  for  life  in  a  line  of  effort 
for  which  he  has  less  liking  and  capacity  than  one 
he  might  have  chosen  to  follow  in  the  employ  of 
the  same  house.  Some  men  are  natural  salesmen; 
they  have  the  selling  instinct  keenly  developed,  and 
it  is  as  natural  for  them  to  convince  customers  of 
the  merits  of  goods  as  to  breathe.  For  a  young  man 
gifted  with  this  selling  capacity  to  work  along  the 
course  of  an  "office"  career  is  a  lamentable  waste 
of  material.  But  this  is  constantly  occurring 
because  beginners  get  started  in  situations  not  in 

17 


THE   MAKING   OF   A   MERCHANT 

the  line  of  their  best  abilities,  and  continue  therein 
for  no  other  reason  than  that  they  are  started  there 
and  have  not  enough  discernment  to  see  that  they 
are  not  working  along  the  line  of  least  resistance, 
or  because,  seeing  this,  they  have  not  enough 
decision  or  force  to  find  a  place  of  the  sort  for 
which  they  are  best  adapted.  In  many  cases,  how- 
ever, they  lack  enough  force  and  decision  to 
discover  their  own  natural  bent  and  to  shape  circum- 
stances to  develop  that  tendency.  Of  such  it  is 
sometimes  observed  that  they  do  not  know  their 
own  minds  because  they  have  none  to  know.  While 
this  may  be  a  trifle  harsh  it  is  altogether  too  true, 
and  those  who  merit  this  criticism  are  the  "hewers 
of  stone  and  the  drawers  of  water" — those  who 
continue  to  do  the  rougher  and  poorly-paid  work 
of  a  large  establishment. 


CHAPTER    II 
ADVANCEMENT    IN    BUSINESS 

IN  the  United  States  Navy  no  officer  is  eligible 
to  promotion  until  he  is  able  immediately  and 
without  further  preparation  to  discharge  the  full 
duties  of  the  position  just  ahead  of  him  in  the 
line.  More  than  in  the  navy,  perhaps,  this  principle 
of  advancement  holds  good  in  mercantile  life,  and 
particularly  in  its  wholesale  branch.  So  important 
is  it  that  I  should  place  it  first  among  the  things 
to  be  observed  by  the  young  man  beginning  his 
business  life.  Always  he  should  be  reaching  out 
for  the  definite  and  practical  knowledge  that  will 
enable  him  to  do  the  work  of  the  man  immediately 
above  him. 

To  do  this  does  not  imply  that  he  need  make 
that  man  feel  that  some  one  is  trying  to  push  him 
off  the  pay-roll  or  crowd  him  out  of  the  house. 
Neither  does  it  carry  the  implication  that  the 
ambitious  young  employee  is  justified  in  neglecting 
the  slightest  detail  of  labor  belonging  to  his  own 
position  in  order  to  familiarize  himself  with  those 

19 


THE  MAKING  OF  A   MERCHANT 

of  the  man  into  whose  shoes  he  hopes  to  step. 
Either  of  these  inferences  is  absurd  and  unwar- 
ranted— a  fact  which  will  not  hinder  certain  persist- 
ently impractical  persons  from  at  once  drawing 
such  a  conclusion.  The  man  who  has  enough 
native  tact  to  become  a  successful  merchant  will 
not  advertise  his  ambitions  for  promotion  to  the 
discomfort  of  the  man  whose  place  he  hopes  to 
secure;  but  he  will  quietly  and  persistently  absorb 
the  information  which  will  enable  him  to  discharge 
that  person's  duties  provided  the  latter  were  himself 
suddenly  promoted.  On  the  other  hand,  the  man 
who  should  hope  to  win  promotion  by  neglecting  a 
present  responsibility  for  the  purpose  of  studying 
a  future  one  would  display  an  unpardonable  lack 
of  ordinary  common-sense. 

But  in  any  event,  let  it  be  clear  that  in  the 
struggle  for  advancement  in  the  employ  of  a 
modern  business  house,  the  boy  or  young  man  who 
is  content  to  do  only  the  task  assigned  him  without 
any  interest  in  that  process  of  the  work  next  beyond 
him  need  not  hope  for  promotion.  If  it  comes  to 
him  it  is  because  the  person  who  must  determine 
the  promotion  has  not  been  sufficiently  alert  to 
detect  the  lack  of  a  normal  curiosity,  to  say  nothing 
of  a  proper  self-interest. 

As  in  the  navy,  so  in  the  big  mercantile  estab- 
20 


THE  MAKING  OF  A   MERCHANT 

lishment,  there  is  little  or  no  time  for  learning 
the  duties  of  a  position  after  having  been  promoted 
to  it.  Especially  is  this  true  of  the  higher  places 
of  an  executive  character.  Responsibility  does  not 
wait  upon  personal  convenience  or  the  slow  process 
of  leisurely  apprenticeship  taken  while  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  the  honors  and  emoluments  of  a  journey- 
man. Under  the  high  pressure  of  modern  busi- 
ness life,  full  exercise  of  authority  and  a  complete 
shouldering  of  responsibility  must  begin  at  the 
moment  a  man  nominally  assumes  a  position — and 
generally  they  begin  before  he  takes  the  place 
as  his  own.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  I  place 
so  much  emphasis  upon  the  necessity  of  learning 
how  to  do  the  thing  not  required  to-day,  but  which 
may,  by  virtue  of  some  sudden  emergency,  be 
demanded  to-morrow,  when  there  will  be  not  a 
moment  for  "getting  posted." 

I  doubt  if  to-day  there  is  a  man  at  the  head  of 
a  department  in  the  large  wholesale  enterprise 
with  which  I  was  associated  for  many  years  who 
has  not  won  his  place  through  the  consistent 
exercise  of  this  outreaching  for  a  knowledge  of 
the  thing  immediately  in  front  of  him.  Generally, 
however,  a  man  is  most  impressed  by  the  achieve- 
ment of  the  person  succeeding  in  a  field  of  effort 
other  than  that  in  which  he  is  struggling,  and  I 

21 


THE   MAKING   OF   A   MERCHANT 

shall  therefore  illustrate  my  point  by  reference  to 
the  career  of  a  man  who  has  made  his  name  widely 
known  in  the  grain  trade. 

He  started  in  by  tending  the  telephone  at  a 
grain  elevator  and  "keeping  the  weights" — that  is, 
copying  the  scale  tickets  into  a  book — when  not 
busy  at  the  'phone.  He  made  it  a  business  always 
to  be  "caught  up"  with  his  work,  so  it  often 
happened,  when  he  went  to  the  scale  floor  for  the 
tickets,  that  they  were  not  ready  for  him.  This 
gave  the  young  man  leisure  to  become  familiar  with 
the  weighman's  work  and  with  the  scales  and 
machinery  of  the  elevator.  Occasionally  he  induced 
the  weighman  to  let  him  tend  one  scale,  and  later 
two  scales,  until  he  became  thoroughly  familiar 
with  the  work.  About  this  time  his  employer  built 
a  new  elevator  and  the  young  man  applied  for 
the  position  of  timekeeper.  Undismayed  by  the 
reply  that  the  timekeeper  would  be  expected,  in 
addition  to  his  regular  work,  to  tally  and  record 
every  load  of  lumber,  stone,  brick,  sand,  iron  and 
other  material  going  into  the  construction  of  the 
elevator,  he  eventually  secured  the  position.  The 
elevator  was  built  by  day  labor  instead  of  by 
contract.  The  first  day  twenty  men  started  work, 
the  second  day  there  were  forty,  the  third  day  sixty, 
and  so  on  until  the  full  quota  of  nearly  two  hundred 

22 


THE   MAKING   OF  A    MERCHANT 

men  was  engaged.  Despite  the  fact  that  these 
laborers  were  of  almost  a  dozen  different  nation- 
alities, the  young  timekeeper  so  familiarized  himself 
with  their  names  and  faces  that  he  was  able  to  call 
by  name  each  man  who  had  worked  for  even  a 
single  day.  He  could  also  tell,  quite  as  readily, 
in  what  part  of  the  building  each  man  worked,  and 
he  missed  at  once  any  laborer  who  stole  away  for 
an  hour  or  two  at  a  neighboring  saloon.  When  the 
elevator  was  completed  a  weighman  was  needed 
and  the  young  man  applied  for  the  position.  After 
convincing  his  employer  that  he  understood  the 
work  and  that  he  had  watched  the  construction 
of  every  grain  spout,  and  therefore  knew  into  what 
bin  each  one  led  and  that  he  would  not  have  to 
learn  that  anew,  he  was  given  the  position. 

He  soon  became  so  expert  that  the  weighing  did 
not  require  his  entire  time,  and  during  moments 
otherwise  unoccupied  he  turned  his  attention  to  the 
working  of  the  cleaning  machines  on  the  same  floor, 
and  was  finally  allowed  to  tend  these  machines  in 
addition  to  the  work  of  weighing.  He  became  an 
expert  in  the  art  of  telling  at  a  glance  the  exact 
grade  of  a  given  sample  of  wheat,  and  during  this 
schooling  he  managed  to  learn  from  the  foreman 
just  how  grain  is  mixed  to  produce  a  given  grade. 
His  perseverance  in  learning  everything  that  could 


THE   MAKING   OF   A   MERCHANT 

be  learned  about  the  business  soon  gave  him  the 
name  of  being  the  best  grain  expert  in  the  elevator. 
He  held  this  enviable  position  in  the  eyes  of  his 
fellow-workers  for  a  number  of  years.  One  day 
one  of  the  young  man's  employers  came  to  him  and 
said :  "I  am  going  to  buy  you  a  membership  on 
the  Board  of  Trade.  You  can  buy  car  lots  down 
there.  I  have  been  watching  you,  and  I  hear  from 
people  around  here  that  you  are  as  good  a  judge 
of  grain  as  there  is.  You  are  just  the  fellow  we 
want." 

Then  began  his  career  as  a  commission  merchant. 
But  the  keynote  of  his  advancement  from  one  posi- 
tion to  another  was  that  of  learning  how  to  do 
the  work  of  the  position  next  in  the  line  of  promo- 
tion. It  works  in  the  general  mercantile  business 
as  well  as  in  the  grain  trade. 

I  have  been  asked  to  designate  certain  books  and 
articles  which  may  afford  practical  assistance  to 
young  men  seeking  to  get  on  in  the  field  of  mer- 
chandising. This  I  shall  do  in  concluding  this 
chapter;  but  I  shall  fail  of  my  full  duty  if  I  do  not 
make  it  very  clear  to  every  reader  that  no  amount 
of  "outside  reading"  can  take  the  place  of,  or  com- 
pare in  importance  with,  the  lessons  to  be  learned 
by  actual  observation  in  the  rush  working-hours. 
When  the  lessons  which  fall  under  the  eye  of  the 

24 


THE  MAKING  OF  A   MERCHANT 

alert  observer  are  amplified  by  means  of  judicious 
inquiry,  then  decisive  progress  is  inevitable.  And 
without  this  no  amount  of  "parallel  study"  or 
theoretical  research  will  avail. 

In  the  first  month  of  service  in  a  large  establish- 
ment every  employee  should  become  complete 
master  of  the  general  structure  of  the  enterprise. 
That  framework  of  organization  by  which  the 
enterprise  is  sustained  should  stand  out  as  clearly 
before  the  eyes  of  the  boy  or  young  man  who  has 
become  a  part  of  its  mechanism  as  would  the 
beams,  sills,  braces  and  other  timbers  of  a  cabin 
being  built  by  his  own  hands  and  destined  to  be 
his  lifelong  home.  Grand  divisions,  subdivisions 
and  departments  should  be  sharply  defined  and 
their  relationship  understood.  He  should  be  able 
minutely,  and  without  the  omission  of  a  single  step 
or  detail,  to  trace  any  article  of  merchandise  from 
the  moment  of  its  arrival  inside  the  house  until 
it  is  in  the  hands  of  the  customer.  Not  only  this, 
but  he  should  also  be  able  to  furnish  an  equally 
accurate  and  detailed  narrative  of  the  process,  in 
the  way  of  accounting,  which  accompanies  and 
records  the  passage  of  this  piece  of  goods  from 
the  receiving  door  to  the  shipping  platform. 

This  is  equivalent  to  learning  the  main  thorough- 
fares and  car  lines  of  a  strange  city.     After  that 

25 


THE   MAKING  OF  A   MERCHANT 

has  been  accomplished  the  newcomer  has  the 
far  more  subtle  and  difficult  task  of  becoming 
acquainted  with  the  inhabitants  of  the  place,  and 
of  learning  the  peculiar  traits  and  characteristics 
which  give  them  their  individuality.  So  in  the 
business  house.  After  the  boy  who  has  begun  his 
apprenticeship  has  learned  the  main  points  of  the 
compass,  and  can  trace  any  kind  of  goods  on  its 
journey  from  factory  to  customer,  he  must  still 
acquaint  himself  with  the  personnel  of  the  estab- 
lishment; and  it  is  here  that  he  will  learn  what 
gives  the  house  its  individuality,  its  points  of  differ- 
ence from  other  enterprises  in  the  same  line  of 
trade.  And  in  proportion  as  he  is  able  to  discern 
the  "personal  equation"  of  the  house,  of  its  officials 
and  department  heads,  he  will  demonstrate  his 
fitness  for  commercial  life,  which  mainly  is  the 
game  of  judging  human  nature  and  of  following 
a  well-ordered  system  and  method  of  doing  things. 
Any  boy  of  fair  intelligence  who  applies  himself 
faithfully  to  the  task  of  getting  his  bearings  in 
this  particular  will  be  able  to  tell,  in  a  very  short 
time,  what  may  reasonably  be  expected  of  any 
particular  man  in  the  house — how  he  does  his  work, 
what  he  expects  from  those  under  his  charge,  how 
he  conducts  himself  toward  those  in  authority  over 
him,  how  he  administers  and  receives  discipline,  on 

26 


THE   MAKING   OF  A    MERCHANT 

what  points  in  business  ethics  he  is  most  insistent 
and  where  he  is  inclined  to  be  lax  or  lenient,  what 
is  the  surest  road  to  his  approval  and  to  his  dis- 
pleasure, and — most  important  of  all — what  are  the 
peculiarities  which  make  him  most  valuable  to  the 
house  and  secure  his  permanent  employment  and 
advancement. 

These  and  a  score  of  other  equally  significant 
inquiries  should  come  spontaneously  into  the  mind 
of  every  wide-awake  boy  or  young  man  and  find 
insistent  application  to  every  man  of  any  importance 
in  the  house.  And  if  this  close  study  and  observa- 
tion of  character  is  not  spontaneous  it  should  be 
cultivated  until  the  young  student  of  human  nature 
is  able  to  foretell  with  reasonable  accuracy  the  line 
of  action  which  any  of  his  superiors  will  follow 
under  given  conditions.  When  he  can  do  this  well 
he  will  have  mastered  one  of  the  most  important 
problems  in  the  course  of  his  training,  for  he  will 
know  the  particular  forces  which  make  the  person- 
ality of  his  house,  and  he  will  have  learned  how  to 
estimate  men  and  forecast  their  actions. 

There  is  but  one  criterion  by  which  all  men  in 
modern  mercantile  life  are  judged,  and  its  name  is 
Results.  Once  a  salesman  complained  to  the  exec- 
utive head  of  a  large  wholesale  house  that  the 
morals  of  the  manager  of  a  certain  department 

27 


THE   MAKING   OF  A   MERCHANT 

were  not  what  they  should  be.  The  answer  of 
the  executive  partner  was:  "All  I  know  of  Jones 
or  need  to  know  of  him  is  written  in  the  figures 
of  my  red  book  of  balances.  That  tells  the  story 
every  time.  It  tells  me  that  Jones  produces 
results — large  ones,  which  are  down  in  big  figures 
on  the  right  side  of  the  ledger.  I  don't  go  to  this 
red  book  to  determine  my  friends  and  social 
acquaintances,  those  whom  I  invite  to  my  home. 
But  it  does  settle  who  shall  handle  my  goods,  and 
it  gives  me  all  the  facts  I  need  to  make  up  my 
mind  on  that  score." 

This  may  have  been  a  too  radical  statement,  but 
it  well  enforces  the  point  that  results  are  the  final 
elements  on  which  the  man  in  mercantile  life  must 
rest  his  case.  Reasons  and  excuses  will  not  avail. 
Personally  I  hold  that  no  business  man  can  afford 
to  ignore  the  morals  of  his  employees;  but  at  the 
same  time  the  man  whose  work  yields  large  profits 
to  the  house  with  which  he  is  connected  generally 
has  little  fear  that  anything  save  a  suspicion 
against  his  honesty  will  cause  his  firm  to  dispense 
with  his  services  so  long  as  he  keeps  his  record 
as  a  profit  producer.  Therefore  the  men  who  make 
the  greatest  progress  are  those  who  can  stand  the 
test  of  the  book  of  balances,  who  do  not  weary 
their  superiors  with  excuses  for  and  details  of 

28 


THE  MAKING  OF  A   MERCHANT 

unsuccessful  undertakings,  and  who  accept  the 
responsibilities  of  their  positions  and  abide  by 
results.  Salesmen  who  try  to  make  up  for  lack 
of  orders  by  voluminous  correspondence  telling 
why  they  did  not  sell  the  goods  do  themselves  harm 
instead  of  good  through  their  epistolary  efforts. 
The  only  kind  of  correspondence  which  does  the 
salesman  any  great  amount  of  good  is  that  which 
is  checked  up  in  the  shipping-room. 

In  the  same  way  the  credit  man  comes  to  the 
final  test  of  results;  the  percentage  of  loss  in  poor 
accounts.  If  this  is  very  small — say,  perhaps,  from 
one-tenth  to  one-twentieth  of  one  per  cent — and 
if  the  selling  department  cannot  show  that,  in  order 
to  keep  losses  down  to  this  point,  he  has  contracted 
sales  beyond  the  point  of  profit  and  good  sense,  then 
he  is  entitled  to  feel  that  the  verdict  of  results  is 
well  earned. 

There  seems  to  be  a  great  demand  in  these  days 
for  outlines  of  home-study  courses,  which  the 
ambitious  boy  or  young  man  may  follow  in  his 
leisure  hours,  and  thereby  add  directly  to  his  busi- 
ness efficiency.  The  possibilities  of  such  a  course 
for  the  beginner  in  a  mercantile  house  are  almost 
unlimited,  but  the  books  to  which  he  should  be 
referred  can  only  be  suggested  by  the  nature  of  his 
individual  work.  Do  his  daily  tasks  bring  him  into 

29 


THE   MAKING   OF  A    MERCHANT 

contact  with  laces  or  shawls  or  tapestries  and 
carpets?  Then  let  him  go  to  the  public  library  and 
secure  books  which  will  place  before  him  the  history 
of  lace  making,  of  shawl,  tapestry  and  carpet 
weaving.  By  persistent  reading,  supplemented  with 
keen  observation  of  the  goods  themselves,  he  may 
soon  learn  to  judge  of  their  relative  values  and  their 
artistic  merits.  There  is  scarcely  an  article  known 
to  commerce  which  has  not  a  literature  of  its  own. 
And  the  beginner  who  at  night  reads  about  the 
articles  which  he  handles  in  the  daytime  will  find 
them  far  more  interesting,  and  he  will  be  able  to 
talk  intelligently  and  entertainingly  of  them  to 
others.  There  are  few  books  of  any  especial  value, 
so  far  as  I  am  informed,  which  have  been  written 
with  especial  reference  to  the  needs  of  learners  in 
the  field  of  merchandising.  Nearly  all  those  which 
are  likely  to  prove  helpful  to  beginners  in  this  busi- 
ness apply  broadly  to  all  who  seek  success  in  other 
lines  in  the  world  of  affairs. 

In  Sir  Arthur  Help's  "Essays  Written  in  the 
Intervals  of  Business"  may,  perhaps,  be  found  more 
shrewd  and  homely  wisdom  and  sound  philosophy 
regarding  business  and  the  principles  which  lead 
to  success  than  can  be  found  in  any  other  volume, 
excepting,  of  course,  the  Bible.  Almost  every 
faculty  required  in  achieving  a  substantial  business 

30 


THE   MAKING   OF   A    MERCHANT 

success  is  there  analyzed  in  the  most  clear  and 
searching  manner.  The  young  man  who  is 
ambitious  to  get  ahead  in  commercial  life,  and  who 
will  master  the  principles  so  simply  but  adroitly 
set  forth  in  this  little  volume  of  essays,  will  not 
need  to  follow  any  elaborate  course  of  reading. 

Probably  the  most  valuable  book  relating  to  the 
more  technical  side  of  merchandising  is  that  called 
"How  to  Do  Business  as  Business  is  Done  in  the 
Great  Commercial  Centers,"  by  Dr.  Seymour  Eaton. 
This  is  a  sensible  treatise  on  the  most  essential 
forms  and  definitions,  and  it  also  takes  up,  in  a 
very  entertaining  manner,  the  trade  features  of 
the  great  commercial  nations  of  the  world. 

For  the  young  man  who  is  particularly  interested 
in  export  and  import  trade  I  should  recommend 
"Modern  Business  Methods/'  by  Frederick  Hooper 
and  James  Graham.  Although  this  is  an  English 
book  it  is  very  comprehensive  and  contains  a  large 
amount  of  information  which  would  be  of  practical 
use  to  an  executive  in  an  American  house  importing 
large  quantities  of  goods. 

A  very  practical  volume  which  should  be  read 
by  the  beginner  who  has  an  eye  on  the  credit  desk 
is  called  "Whom  to  Trust,"  and  is  written  by 
P.  R.  Earling. 


CHAPTER    III 
THE  QUALITIES  THAT  MAKE  A  MERCHANT 

ONLY  the  man  who  is  a  natural  trader  has  any 
call  to  go  into  the  business  of  merchandising. 
This  statement  may  seem  absurdly  self-apparent; 
but  it  is  more  than  warranted  by  actual  conditions. 
Thousands  of  men  go  into  the  business  of  store 
keeping  who  have  not  the  slightest  natural  capacity 
for  it  and  who  should  have  been  able  to  convince 
themselves  of  their  disabilities  in  this  direction 
without  paying  for  the  knowledge  in  the  dear  coin 
of  experience. 

The  ability  to  play  the  game  of  barter  and  sale 
is  no  mysterious  talent.  On  the  other  hand,  it 
is  found  to  come  to  the  surface  no  matter  what 
calling  the  possessor  of  it  may  be  following  at  the 
moment.  If  he  is  a  farmer  he  will  find  himself 
selling  his  produce  to  a  little  better  advantage  than 
his  neighbors  and  he  will  acquire  the  reputation 
among  his  fellows  of  being  a  "close  trader."  If 
he  swaps  a  horse  or  a  cow  he  gets  a  little  the  better 
of  the  bargain — not  once,  by  accident,  but  as  a 

32 


THE   MAKING   OF  A   MERCHANT 

general  rule.  A  man  of  this  kind  is  a  natural  | 
merchant;  he  has  the  gift  of  trade,  which  I  hold 
to  be  just  as  distinct  a  gift  as  the  talent  of  the 
artist,  the  musician  or  the  author.  And  right  at 
the  start  let  the  young  man  who  has  the  idea  that 
he  can  become  a  merchant  face  the  fact  that  if 
he  has  not  this  gift  of  trade  by  nature  he  cannot 
acquire  it  by  seeking  or  striving;  it  is  one  of  the 
things  that  cannot  be  put  into  a  man.  He  must 
be  born  to  a  life  of  barter,  else  he  stands  but  little 
chance  of  succeeding  in  it.  I  say  little  chance,  for 
the  reason  that  sometimes  the  circumstances  sur- 
rounding a  merchandising  business  may  be  so 
phenomenally  favorable  to  it  that  the  storekeeper 
will  succeed  in  spite  of  his  inherent  incapacity.  But 
these  accidents  are  so  infrequent  that  they  do  not 
justify  any  man  in  attempting  merchandising  who 
feels  he  lacks  the  "knack  of  trade"  to  any  degree. 
In  view  of  all  this  the  first  thing  any  man  should 
do  who  feels  an  inclination  to  go  into  store  keeping 
is  to  satisfy  himself  whether  he  has  the  trading 
instinct.  But  how  may  he  do  this  you  ask,  if  he  has 
never  tried  his  hand  at  it?  This  is  not  nearly  so 
difficult  as  it  might  seem,  provided  he  will  be  abso- 
lutely honest  with  himself — and  if  he  is  unwilling 
to  do  this  he  is  poorly  equipped  for  success  in  any 
field.  First  he  should  sit  down  with  himself  and 

33 


THE   MAKING   OF  A   MERCHANT 

make  a  careful  analysis  of  every  business  transac- 
tion of  his  own  which  he  can  recall.  These  may 
be  few  and  they  may  be  small,  but  they  are  certainly 
significant  so  far  as  the  purposes  of  his  decision 
are  concerned.  Let  him  ask  himself  with  regard 
to  each  transaction:  Did  I  find  myself  bettered  by 
the  bargain?  Did  I  show  myself  a  trader  or  did 
the  honors  of  the  deal  go  to  the  other  side?  Did 
I  show  a  fair  capacity  in  realizing  the  most  out 
of  the  trade?  After  each  transaction  has  been  con- 
sidered let  the  investigator  strike  a  balance  and  see 
how  his  trading  experience  has  panned  out  in  the 
long  run.  This  will  give  him  a  start  towards 
answering  the  main  question  in  hand — but  only 
a  start.  It  is  but  common  human  nature  for  us 
to  look  with  leniency  upon  our  own  acts.  There- 
fore our  judgment  of  what  we  have  done  is  liable 
to  be  warped  and  mistaken. 

The  next  step  for  the  prospective  merchant  to 
take  is  to  find  out,  in  some  way,  whether  or  not 
his  neighbors  regard  him  as  a  "good  trader." 
Generally  every  man  has  some  friend  who  can  be 
trusted  to  tell  him  the  truth,  even  about  himself. 
Let  him  go  to  such  a  friend  and  not  only  get  his 
opinion  but  also  the  opinions  of  others  whose  views 
this  friend  may  learn  by  skillful  and  indirect 
inquiry.  The  results  of  this  investigation  combined 

34 


THE   MAKING   OF  A   MERCHANT 

with  those  of  his  own  analysis  and  self-examination 
should  give  him  at  least  a  fair  idea  of  his  talents 
for  trade. 

There  is,  however,  still  another  important  ques- 
tion, so  far  as  his  natural  capacities  for  mer- 
chandising are  concerned,  which  he  must  settle 
beyond  a  doubt  before  he  is  justified  in  feeling  him- 
self equipped  for  this  calling.  He  must  ask  himself 
"Have  I  the  natural  gift  of  economy?"  Unless  a 
man  is  instinctively  saving  he  will  find  himself 
at  a  sad  disadvantage  as  a  storekeeper.  Stopping 
the  little  leaks  of  waste  is  one  of  the  most  essential 
elements  in  the  success  of  a  merchant.  He  may 
be  a  sharp  trader  and  still  fail  as  a  storekeeper 
because  of  an  inability  to  see  small  leaks  and  stop 
them. 

Retail  merchandising  is  essentially  a  business  of 
small  things.  This  is  just  as  true  of  the  great 
metropolitan  store  which  sells  millions  of  dollars' 
worth  of  goods  a  year  as  of  the  little  general  store 
at  a  country  crossroads.  In  either  case  the  indi- 
vidual items  which  make  up  the  total  of  sales  are 
small  and  in  most  cases  the  margins  of  profit  are 
also  small.  Consequently  only  a  little  margin  of 
waste  in  the  handling  of  these  goods  is  necessary 
in  order  completely  to  dissipate  that  small  margin 
of  profit.  A  little  leak,  here  and  there,  is  enough 

35 


THE  MAKING   OF  A   MERCHANT 

to  let  all  the  profits  ooze  out  of  the  cash  drawer 
and  leave  the  merchant  with  only  his  labor  for  his 
pains — if  not  with  a  burden  of  debt  and  failure. 

There  is  scarcely  a  community  in  which  the  really 
able  merchant  is  not  cursed  with  ignorant  and  reck- 
less competition.  "Cutting  prices"  is  the  favorite 
diversion  of  the  merchant  who  ought,  by  good 
rights  and  natural  endowments,  to  have  been  a 
farmer,  a  blacksmith,  a  carpenter  or  an  artisan  of 
some  sort.  About  the  only  way  by  which  the  man 
of  sound  merchandising  capacity  can  meet  this  kind 
of  competition  is  by  superior  economy  in  the  con- 
duct of  his  business.  If  he  can  save  where  his 
competitor  wastes  he  may  be  able  to  offset  ignorant 
and  ill-considered  competition  and  still  come  out 
ahead  in  the  race. 

And  here,  perhaps,  is  the  best  place  to  ask  why 
there  is  so  much  reckless  competition  in  the  fields 
of  retail  merchandising — so  high  a  percentage  of 
failures?  Because  the  ranks  of  the  storekeeper  are 
mainly  recruited  from  men  in  other  callings  who 
think  success  in  merchandising  is  so  easy  that  they 
can  drop  into  it  from  the  top  by  buying  a  business 
first  and  learning  it  afterwards. 

This  reverses  an  order  of  nature — and  it  takes  a 
genius  to  turn  the  natural  order  of  things  about 
and  do  so  successfully.  Few  men  have  a  natural 

36 


THE   MAKING   OF  A    MERCHANT 

merchandising  genius  big  enough  to  win  out  as 
owners  of  a  business  about  which  they  know  little 
or  nothing  in  the  way  of  actual  experience.  Some 
men,  it  is  true,  have  the  financial  and  the  trading 
gift  to  so  great  a  degree  that  their  mastery  of  the 
details  peculiar  to  any  particular  business  seems  to 
be  intuitive;  but  these  men  are  so  rare  that  their 
success  need  not  be  taken  into  consideration  so  far 
as  the  chances  of  the  ordinary  run  of  mortals  are 
concerned.  In  the  eyes  of  many,  if  not  most,  of 
his  customers  the  country  storekeeper  is  a  kind  of 
community  king.  The  hard  working  farmer  is 
especially  prone  to  take  this  view  and  look  with 
envy  upon  the  lot  of  the  village  merchant.  He 
is  inclined  to  the  notion  that  the  work  of  running 
a  country  store  is  mere  recreation  compared  with 
farm  labor  and  that  its  demands  are  just  about 
enough  to  keep  him  out  of  mischief  and  help  pass 
the  time  pleasantly.  Generally  this  view  of  retail 
store  keeping  also  includes  the  idea  that  the  mer- 
chant is  able  to  live  out  of  stock  without  materially 
depleting  it  and  that  $500  is  ample  capital  on  which 
to  start  a  country  store.  "Buying  and  tying  and 
counting  the  money"  is  a  fair  summary  of  the 
farmer's  notion  of  conducting  a  village  store  and 
because  it  looks  so  simple  to  him  he  is  easily  tempted 
to  retire  from  the  farm,  become  a  storekeeper  right 

37 


THE   MAKING   OF  A   MERCHANT 

at  the  start — and  learn  the  business  of  mer- 
chandising later. 

In  this  connection  it  should  be  noted  that  the 
clerk  of  the  retiring  storekeeper  is  not  generally 
his  successor,  although  it  would  seem  quite  natural 
that  he  should  acquire  the  business.  The  fact  is 
that  the  clerk  is  usually  too  familiar  with  the  draw- 
backs of  the  business  to  be  ambitious  to  buy  it — 
especially  if  the  owner  is  anxious  to  sell.  The  more 
intelligent  and  able  the  clerk,  the  better  will  be  his 
knowledge  of  the  weak  spots  of  the  business  and 
the  less  likely  will  he  be  to  deceive  himself  with 
ill-founded  hopes;  the  retiring  farmer  is  the  more 
easily  persuaded  that  there  is  sure  and  easy  money 
in  running  a  country  store,  and  that  the  poor  busi- 
ness ideas  of  the  retiring  merchant  are  accountable 
for  his  failure  to  make  a  comfortable  little  fortune 
out  of  it. 

With  scarcely  an  exception,  the  man  from  the 
farm  who  decides  to  turn  storekeeper  believes  that 
he  is  going  to  succeed  where  the  outgoing  merchant 
failed  because  of  his  superior  ideas  about  the  matter 
of  credits  and  of  store  finances  in  general. 

"I'm  going  to  sell  for  cash,"  he  declares.  "I'd 
rather  have  goods  on  the  shelf  than  on  my  books. 
Of  course,  I  shall  probably  have  to  trust  a  few — 

38 


THE   MAKING  OF   A   MERCHANT 

those  I  know  to  be  perfectly  good — but  my  busi- 
ness is  going  to  be  run  on  a  cash  basis." 

This  stock  phrase  is  used  by  fully  ninety  per 
cent  of  the  men  who  retire  from  the  farm  to  recruit 
the  ranks  of  country  merchants.  It  sounds  well, 
but  its  application  is  a  delusion  and  a  snare.  Its 
qualifying  clause  is  the  thing  which  kills  it;  the 
extension  of  credit  to  "just  a  few  who  are  perfectly 
good"  is  the  element  which,  in  actual  practice, 
brings  confusion  and  defeat  in  hundreds  and  thou- 
sands of  cases. 

In  discussing  the  entry  of  a  young  man  into 
the  retail  business  for  himself  there  are  certain 
things  which  are  so  fundamental  that  they  must  be 
taken  for  granted.  Without  them  there  can  be  no 
permanent  or  substantial  success  in  any  undertaking. 
Among  these  requirements  are  character,  integrity 
and  a  fair  "business  head." 

The  first  rule  which  a  young  merchant  going 
into  the  retail  trade  should  make  for  himself  with 
heroic  determination  is  that  of  doing  a  business 
consistent  with  his  capital.  Failure  to  observe  this 
rule  is  the  rock  on  which  thousands  of  promising 
commercial  undertakings  have  gone  to  pieces. 
Whether  the  capital  put  into  the  enterprise  be  large 
or  small,  its  size  should  absolutely  govern  the 
volume  of  business. 

39 


THE   MAKING  OF   A   MERCHANT 

What  would  we  think  of  an  architect  who  would 
start  a  building  on  a  foundation  forty  feet  square 
and  then  build  without  reference  to  its  limitations 
until  the  structure  completely  overhung  the  under- 
pinning on  all  sides?  Yet  this  is  precisely  what 
thousands  of  young  retail  merchants  throughout 
the  country  are  attempting  to  do.  They  try  to 
brace  up  their  top-heavy  structure  with  the  timber 
of  fictitious  credit.  These  may  hold  in  fair  weather, 
but  when  the  period  of  storm  and  stress  comes — 
as  come  it  surely  will — this  false  support  will  come 
crashing  down  and  the  enterprise  tumble  with  it. 

My  individual  conviction  is  that  the  only  way 
in  which  a  retail  business  can  be  conducted  on  lines 
absolutely  consistent  with  its  capital  is  on  the  cash 
basis.  For  this  reason  I  would  not  advise  any 
young  man  to  make  a  venture  in  retail  trade  on 
credit  lines.  It  is  too  much  like  working  in  the 
dark.  Almost  inevitably  the  accounts  grow  beyond 
your  control,  and  the  business  structure  expands 
at  the  top  while  the  foundation  weakens. 

In  certain  communities  conditions  seem  to  be  such 
that  it  is  practically  impossible  for  the  young  mer- 
chant to  introduce  the  strictly  cash  method  of  doing 
business.  In  this  event  he  has  but  one  hope  of 
success — that  is,  to  watch  his  accounts  with  a 
zealous  vigilance  that  never  relaxes,  and  to  act  with 

40 


THE   MAKING   OF   A    MERCHANT 

promptness  and  decision  in  the  matter  of  credits 
and  collections.  This  may  require  a  high  order  of 
business  and  moral  courage,  but  he  must  be  able 
to  do  it  if  he  would  avoid  wreck. 

In  his  dealings  with  his  creditors,  the  whole- 
salers, let  the  young  merchant  keep  firmly  to  the 
rule  of  incurring  no  obligation  that  he  cannot  with 
certainty  meet  in  sixty  days.  Too  much  emphasis 
cannot  be  placed  on  his  connections  with  the  whole- 
sale house  or  houses  from  which  he  obtains  his 
goods.  At  the  very  beginning  of  his  venture  let 
him  go  to  the  credit  man  of  the  wholesale  estab- 
lishment and  state  his  case  without  reservation. 

So  thorough  and  searching  are  the  means 
employed  by  the  big  wholesale  houses  to  obtain 
an  accurate  knowledge  of  the  standing  and  affairs 
of  their  debtors  that  it  is  practically  hopeless  for 
the  latter  to  attempt  any  concealment  of  unfavorable 
conditions.  Again,  the  credit  men  of  the  whole- 
sale houses  are  the  keenest  men  in  the  business,  and 
their  judgment  of  human  nature  is  quick  and 
shrewd.  Then  it  should  be  constantly  held  in  mind 
that  the  honesty  of  a  patron  seeking  credit  is  half 
the  battle,  and  that  their  confidence  is  won  by  an 
ingenuous  statement  of  affairs  that  does  not  spare 
the  one  who  is  asking  for  credit. 

The  first  interview  of  the  young  retail  merchant 


THE   MAKING  OF  A    MERCHANT 

with  the  credit  man  of  the  wholesale  house  is  some- 
times a  trying  ordeal  in  which  many  uncomfortable 
questions  have  to  be  answered.  This  may  incline 
the  beginner  in  the  retail  trade  to  avoid  the  credit 
man  after  the  initial  interview  has  been  successfully 
passed.  He  could  make  no  greater  mistake  than 
to  allow  this  association  with  a  disagreeable  ordeal 
to  alienate  him  from  a  close  acqaintance  with  the 
credit  man.  To  the  contrary,  he  should  improve 
every  opportunity  to  strengthen  and  build  up  a 
confidential  relationship  with  that  important  func- 
tionary of  the  wholesale  house.  Not  once,  but 
constantly,  should  he  acquaint  the  credit  man  with 
the  real  condition  of  his  affairs,  and  should  ask 
and  follow  the  advice  of  this  counselor  on  all 
important  matters.  The  more  he  does  this  the  better 
will  be  his  standing  with  the  house  and  the  safer 
will  be  his  course.  Advising  patrons  is  one  of  the 
most  important  duties  of  the  credit  man.  I  place 
great  emphasis  on  this  matter  because  its  importance 
is  so  often  overlooked  by  young  men  starting  in 
the  retail  trade. 

Another  cardinal  point  in  the  success  of  the  retail 
merchant  is  that  of  having  a  small  but  frequent 
influx  of  new  goods.  This  is  founded  on  a  universal 
trait  of  human  nature  which  craves  "something 
new."  There  is  a  subtle  flattery,  practically  irre- 

42 


THE  MAKING  OF  A   MERCHANT 

sistible,  in  being  shown  goods  that  have  not  been 
exposed  to  the  eyes  of  others  in  the  town.  "Here 
are  some  of  the  latest  styles,"  says  the  retailer  as 
he  reaches  into  a  packing-box  and  takes  out  a  bolt 
of  dress  goods.  "They  have  just  come  in  and  no 
one  has  seen  them.  You  may  have  first  choice,  if 
you  wish."  This  argument  seldom  fails  to  effect  an 
immediate  sale.  And  even  if  it  does  not  do  so, 
the  woman  to  whom  this  courtesy  is  shown  goes 
away  with  the  impression  that  the  young  merchant 
is  wide-awake  and  thoroughly  up  with  the  times. 

The  dealer  who  puts  in  a  small  stock  at  the  start 
and  keeps  constantly  adding  thereto  with  fresh  but 
limited  invoices  has  an  immense  advantage  over 
the  tradesman  who  buys  in  large  quantities  and  does 
not  freshen  his  stock  for  six  months  at  a  time.  In 
these  days  women  are  the  most  numerous  and 
important  customers  of  the  retailer,  and  they  do  not 
like  to  see  the  same  old  goods.  They  will  trade 
where  they  can  find  something  fresh  every  time 
they  call. 

Every  big  business  has  had  a  small  beginning. 
I  do  not  know  an  exception  to  this  rule.  This 
means  that  a  successful  enterprise  must  have  a 
normal,  substantial  and  legitimate  growth.  If  a 
young  merchant  finds  himself  in  quarters  larger 
than  he  at  first  demands,  he  should  change  for 

43 


THE   MAKING   OF  A   MERCHANT 

smaller  ones  or  partition  off  a  portion  of  his  room 
at  the  back.  The  latter  is  better  than  attempting 
to  put  in  a  larger  stock  of  goods  than  his  trade 
really  demands  or  his  resources  warrant.  It  is  also 
better  judgment  than  to  attempt  to  "spread"  his 
stock  over  a  large  space  for  the  mere  purpose  of 
filling  up. 

While  the  proprietor  should  be  the  first  at  the 
store  in  the  morning  and  the  last  to  leave  at  night, 
and  should  always  be  ready  to  do  anything  that  he 
would  ask  his  humblest  clerk  to  do,  he  should  also 
remember  that  he  must  do  the  headwork  of  the 
business.  He  can  hire  a  boy  to  candle  eggs,  sweep 
out,  and  deliver  goods,  but  if  he  does  not  do  the 
thinking  and  planning  it  will  not  be  done.  That 
is  something  that  the  most  faithful  and  conscien- 
tious clerk  cannot  do  for  him.  If  he  allows  the 
physical  part  of  the  work  so  to  encroach  on  his 
time  and  energies  that  he  does  not  find  opportunity 
for  a  frequent  and  thoughtful  survey  of  his  busi- 
ness, he  makes  a  great  and  common  mistake.  This 
principle  is  stated  forcibly,  if  uncouthly,  in  the  old 
expression,  "Let  your  head  save  your  heels." 

The  young  merchant  who  takes  time,  at  regular 
intervals,  to  make  a  close  summary  and  analysis 
of  his  accounts,  and  takes  his  bearings  so  that  he 
knows  precisely  his  position  on  the  sea  of  business, 

44 


THE   MAKING  OF  A   MERCHANT 

is  the  man  who  will  succeed.  In  other  words,  the 
mental  part  of  the  business  is  its  most  important 
feature.  However,  I  hold  that,  at  more  or  less 
frequent  intervals,  the  storekeeper  should  do  every 
task  about  the  establishment  for  the  sake  of 
influence  and  example.  Let  him  take  the  broom 
from  the  hand  of  the  boy  and  show  the  latter  how 
to  "sweep  out"  without  stirring  up  a  dust  or  leaving 
dirt  in  the  corners ;  this  will  give  him  added  respect 
in  the  eyes  of  the  boy,  and  the  store  will  thereafter 
be  cleaner  by  reason  of  the  example;  and  so  with 
every  other  task,  no  matter  how  trivial  or  humble. 
Then  the  young  merchant  will  do  well  always  to 
bear  in  mind  that  courtesy  is  the  biggest  part  of 
his  capital.  This  does  not  mean  that  he  should  be 
obsequious  or  fawning,  but  simply  and  invariably 
attentive  to  all  who  enter  his  place  of  business. 
This  should  be  a  matter  of  principle  and  native 
good-breeding.  But  if  it  can't  be  spontaneous  and 
of  the  heart,  let  it  be  nourished  as  policy,  and  from 
the  cold  and  calculating  consideration  that  in  this 
country  it  is  impossible  to  tell  how  soon  the 
humblest  patron  may  change  to  a  place  of  great 
influence  and  importance.  Let  any  business  man  of 
long  experience  go  over  the  surprises  of  this  nature 
which  he  has  encountered  and  the  list  will  be  sur- 
prising. In  fact,  the  man  who  has  not  learned  a 

45 


THE   MAKING   OF   A    MERCHANT 

few  lessons  in  this  particular  line  through  sad  and 
humiliating  experience  is  fortunate. 

The  matter  of  advertising  is  not  an  unimportant 
detail.  In  the  local  newspaper  the  young  retailer 
may  wisely  use  a  limited  amount  of  display  adver- 
tising space.  This  will  be  most  advantageously 
occupied  by  a  simple,  dignified  and  modest  announce- 
ment of  new  goods.  Like  his  stock,  the  subject 
matter  of  his  advertisement  should  be  kept  fresh 
by  constant  change.  It  should  also  have  the  indi- 
vidual quality  in  its  wording,  form  and  type — some- 
thing that  expresses  the  personal  good  taste  of  the 
advertiser. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  a  neat  circular  or  folder 
sent  personally  to  patrons  is  a  strong  method  of 
advertising.  Such  announcements  may  be  delivered 
by  messenger  or  distributed  through  the  mails.  Best 
of  all  is  the  neat,  personal  note  written  to  the  mer- 
chant's best  customers,  calling  attention  to  the  fresh 
arrival  of  goods.  The  spare  moments  of  a  young 
merchant  may  be  put  to  a  far  less  effective  use 
than  this  writing  of  individual  advertising  letters. 

It  is  scarcely  possible  to  put  too  much  emphasis 
on  attractive  window  displays.  Here,  again,  the 
element  of  constant  freshness  plays  an  important 
part.  The  displays  should  be  frequently  changed, 
and,  while  striking,  they  should  never  fail  to  have 

46 


THE   MAKING   OF   A   MERCHANT 

the  quality  of  good  taste.  Good  statuary,  pictures, 
curios,  and  art  objects  of  every  kind  may  be  used 
to  unfailing  advantage  in  dressing  windows,  and 
they  always  command  the  attention  and  admiration 
of  women.  It  pays  the  enterprising  merchant  to 
secure  the  loan  of  works  of  art  for  this  purpose — 
and  they  are  not  difficult  to  obtain. 

In  looking  after  these  details,  which  are  of 
importance  in  the  general  result,  the  young  retailer 
should  not  fail  to  keep  a  proper  perspective  of  his 
business  as  a  whole.  He  should  know  just  where 
he  is  sailing,  and  be  sure  that  he  is  not  drifting. 
In  this  way  he  will  become  a  safe  pilot,  will  bring 
his  enterprise  into  the  harbor  of  success  and  inde- 
pendence. And  the  prosperous  retail  merchant  is 
a  very  independent  and  respected  member  of  the 
community  in  this  country,  where  the  honest  trades- 
man commands  the  regard  to  which  he  is  entitled. 


47 


CHAPTER    IV 
DETAILS    THAT    SPELL    SUCCESS 

IN  another  chapter  I  shall  deal  specifically  with 
the  credit  system  of  the  retail  store  in  all  its 
details,  but  the  present  reference  is  for  the  purpose 
of  emphasizing  the  fact  that  here  is  the  cardinal 
cause  of  so  large  a  percentage  of  failures  among  the 
keepers  of  small  stores.  It  is  an  actual  fact  that 
hundreds  of  small  storekeepers  become  insolvent 
before  they  know  it,  and  they  believe  themselves 
prospering  until  aroused  to  their  actual  condition 
by  the  credit  man  of  their  jobbing  house.  This 
statement  will,  I  am  sure,  be  verified  by  the  credit 
man  of  almost  any  wholesale  house,  particularly  in 
the  grocery  or  dry  goods  business. 

One  of  the  rocks  upon  which  thousands  of  store 
keepers  go  to  pieces  is  that  of  failure  to  figure  the 
cost  of  their  goods.  I  do  not  believe  it  an  exaggera- 
tion to  say  that  not  one  storekeeper  in  a  thousand, 
the  country  over,  adequately  figures  the  cost  of 
the  merchandise  which  he  sells.  Almost  invariably 
he  fails  to  include  in  his  estimate  some  important 

48 


THE   MAKING  OF  A   MERCHANT 

element  of  fixed  charges,  of  his  running  expenses. 
For  example,  if  he  owns  his  store  building  he 
figures  that  he  is  saving  the  entire  item  of  rent, 
and  consequently  he  does  not  include  this  in  his 
fixed  or  running  expenses;  because  he  has  his  son 
helping  in  the  store  as  a  clerk  and  his  nephew 
delivers  the  goods,  he  makes  no  charge  for  their 
services  on  his  salary  account ;  again,  he  is  unusually 
exact  if  he  makes  any  charge  on  account  of 
the  insurance  which  he  is  obliged  to  carry  on  his 
building  and  stock.  Of  course,  not  all  merchants 
are  as  careless  as  this  with  regard  to  their  record 
of  operating  expenses,  but  it  is  safe  to  say  that 
very  few  of  them  charge  anything  to  the  account 
of  interest  on  their  investment  beyond,  perhaps, 
the  actual  sums  which  they  are  obliged  to  pay  out 
for  interest  on  money  borrowed.  In  a  word,  the 
average  keeper  of  a  store  has  no  idea  whatever  of 
his  total  operating  expenses  and  he  is  uncommonly 
fortunate  if  he  figures  into  the  cost  of  his  goods 
one-half  of  the  expense  which  should  be  charged 
under  that  head.  Really,  I  do  not  think  that  fifty 
per  cent  of  the  smaller  storekeepers  in  the  country 
districts  figure  into  their  cost  of  a  specific  invoice 
of  goods  the  money  actually  paid  out  for  the  trans- 
portation of  that  shipment,  to  say  nothing  of  any 
charge  for  hauling  and  handling  inside  the  store. 

49 


THE   MAKING   OF   A   MERCHANT 

Let  me  give  one  instance,  which  is  thoroughly 
representative  of  hundreds  of  others,  of  how  a 
storekeeper  figured  his  cost.  He  bought  a  case  oi 
canned  goods  and  had  it  hauled  from  the  station 
to  his  store  in  his  own  delivery  wagon.  The  fact 
that  he  did  not  have  to  pay  any  drayage  on  these 
goods  was  the  one  thing  prominently  in  his  mind 
when  he  opened  them  and  for  this  reason  he  told 
the  boys  to  mark  the  cost  at  fifteen  cents  and  the 
selling  price  at  twenty  cents.  When  he  sold  these 
goods  he  flattered  himself  that  he  was  making  a 
good  margin  of  profit,  while,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
if  he  figured  in  a  right  percentage  of  all  of  his 
operating  expenses  he  would  have  realized  that  he 
was  selling  the  goods  at  a  margin  of  less  than  a 
cent  a  can,  if  not  at  actual  cost. 

Another  point  which  the  storekeeper  is  prone  to 
overlook  is  that  of  failing  to  decide  for  his  cus- 
tomer. As  an  example :  The  storekeeper  carries 
several  brands  of  tobacco.  In  tobaccos,  as  in  most 
other  lines  goods  carried  in  the  small  general  store. 
there  is  a  wide  difference  in  the  margin  of  profit 
which  the  storekeeper  can  exact  from  his  customer. 
Those  brands  which  are  the  most  widely  advertised 
invariably  afford  the  smallest  margin  of  profit.  Let 
us  suppose,  for  example,  that  the  Chippeway  brand 
of  plug  tobacco  gives  the  merchant  a  margin  of 

50 


THE   MAKING  OF  A   MERCHANT 

only  ten  per  cent,  while  the  Cowboy's  Pride  and 
the  Real  Comfort  brands  give  him  twenty  to  twenty- 
five  per  cent  margin.  If  he  is  a  good  salesman  and 
a  natural  trader  he  will  invariably  hand  his  cus- 
tomer a  plug  of  Cowboy's  Pride  instead  of  Chippe- 
way,  unless  the  buyer,  of  his  own  volition,  asks 
for  Chippeway.  On  the  other  hand,  the  store- 
keeper who  is  not  thoroughly  up  to  his  task  will 
ask  the  customer,  "What  brand  do  you  want?" 
thus  leaving  the  decision  entirely  to  the  customer, 
and  thereby  cutting  his  own  profit  in  half.  It  must 
be  confessed  that,  in  a  majority  of  cases,  the  general 
storekeeper,  or  his  clerk,  fails  to  make  this  decision 
for  his  customers.  Of  course,  when  the  decision  is 
put  up  to  the  customer  he  will  invariably  name  the 
brand  most  widely  advertised,  because  it  is  the 
first  one  that  comes  to  his  mind.  If  this  were  not 
the  case  what  is  known  as  "general  publicity"  adver- 
tising would  be  a  failure  and  the  millions  of  dollars 
spent  in  this  kind  of  publicity  would  be  wasted. 
Depend  upon  it,  the  customer  will  always  name  the 
brand  which  gives  the  least  margin  of  profit,  unless 
the  storekeeper  takes  the  matter  in  his  hands  and 
makes  the  decision  in  favor  of  the  brand  against 
which  the  manufacturer  is  not  obliged  to  charge 
the  expenses  of  a  heavy  publicity  advertising 
campaign. 

51 


THE   MAKING   OF  A   MERCHANT 

This  matter  of  pushing  brands  which  give  a 
liberal  profit  in  preference  to  those  yielding  only  a 
narrow  margin  is  a  most  important  one  which  calls 
for  a  nice  discrimination  in  many  ways.  No  mer- 
chant can  afford  to  push  a  poor  quality  of  goods 
and  thus  impose  on  his  customers,  no  matter  how 
large  the  margin  of  profit  may  be.  On  the  other 
hand,  if  he  is  an  intelligent  buyer  he  will  find  little 
difficulty  in  securing  goods  in  which  there  is  a 
generous  margin  of  profit,  and  which  are  nearly,  if 
not  quite,  equal  in  quality  to  brands  which  are 
called  "standard"  because  of  the  large  advertising 
back  of  them.  Then,  he  should  remember  that 
he  has  it  in  his  power  to  make  unadvertised  brands 
of  goods  almost  as  well  known  to  his  customers 
as  those  which  are  largely  advertised.  This  he 
can  do  not  only  by  word  of  mouth,  but  by  using 
intelligent  discrimination  in  displaying  the  brands 
which  he  is  most  anxious  to  sell.  He  should 
remember  that  people  dislike  to  be  thought  ignorant 
of  brands  and  qualities  and  that  he  has  it  in  his 
own  hands  to  create  the  impression  in  the  minds 
of  his  customers  that  certain  profitable  brands  are 
the  desirable  ones. 

There  is  no  necessity  for  a  merchant  to  give 
the  most  prominent  display  to  brands  in  which 
there  is  the  least  profit.  Instead,  it  is  the  part  of 

52 


THE   MAKING   OF   A   MERCHANT 

discretion  and  good  salesmanship  to  give  the  most 
conspicuous  place  in  his  show  windows  and  on  his 
counters  and  his  shelves  to  those  goods  which  he 
is  most  anxious  to  sell  because  they  yield  him  the 
larger  profit.  A  little  intelligent  work,  in  a  hand 
to  hand  way,  will  do  wonders  in  educating  his 
customers  in  the  idea  that  certain  unadvertised 
brands  of  goods  are  equal  in  quality  to  those  which 
have  received  greater  publicity  and  for  which  a 
higher  price  is  charged.  It  is  human  nature  to  feel 
gratified  over  a  good  bargain,  and  when  once  the 
customer  is  made  to  feel  that  he  is  buying  some- 
thing for  ten  cents  as  good  as  others  are  getting 
for  fifteen,  he  feels  a  certain  sense  of  gratitude  to 
the  merchant  who  has  put  the  bargain  in  his  way. 
Of  course  the  small  country  storekeeper  cannot 
get  the  jobber  to  put  his  own  brand  on  goods  which 
he  buys,  but  this  is  easily  possible  with  leading 
merchants  in  the  larger  towns  and  provincial  cities, 
and  this  is  one  of  the  strong  points  in  good  mer- 
chandising, particularly  in  the  grocery  business. 
No  opportunity  to  do  this  should  be  neglected, 
provided,  always,  that  there  is  no  doubt  as  to  the 
intrinsic  merit  of  the  goods.  When  the  storekeeper, 
little  or  big,  recommends  an  unadvertised  brand 
of  goods  as  against  an  advertised  brand,  he  must 

53 


OF  TH- 

UNIVERSITY 


THE   MAKING  OF   A   MERCHANT 

be  absolutely  certain  that  the  goods  have  the  merit 
and  will  bear  out  his  recommendations. 

It  should  not  be  inferred  from  what  I  have  said, 
however,  that  a  merchant's  stock  of  goods  is  com- 
plete without  the  leading  standard  or  advertised 
brands  of  goods  in  the  various  lines.  There  are 
always,  in  every  community,  people  who  will 
demand  these  and  be  dissatisfied  unless  they  are 
able  to  get  them. 

Perhaps  the  most  important  thing  which  any 
merchant  sells  is  that  for  which  he  does  not  make 
a  direct  or  open  charge.  The  name  of  this  com- 
modity is  service.  Nothing  on  his  shelves  or 
counters  is  of  greater  value  and  the  quality  of 
service  which  he  gives  his  customers  is  just  as  vital 
to  his  success,  perhaps  more  so,  than  is  the  quality 
of  the  goods  which  he  sends  out  in  his  delivery 
wagon  or  puts  into  the  hands  of  his  customers.  On 
the  other  hand,  service  is  just  as  tangible  a  com- 
modity as  sugar  or  dress  goods,  and  should  be  as 
carefully  reckoned  in  his  cost  account  as  his  bills 
for  goods  or  his  freight  or  insurance  expense. 

It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  good  service  is  the 
most  profitable  thing  which  the  merchant  can  sell, 
and  that  poor  service  is,  by  the  same  token,  the 
most  unprofitable  thing  that  he  can  have  about  his 
store.  Comparatively  few  storekeepers  have  any 

54 


THE   MAKING   OF   A    MERCHANT 

realization  of  this,  and  seem  to  conduct  their  busi- 
ness upon  the  supposition  that  service  is  an  intan- 
gible quantity,  and  that  the  cheaper  they  can  get 
their  clerk  hire  the  better.  Few  mistakes  can  be 
more  fatal  to  merchandising  than  this  notion.  From 
the  delivery  boy  up  to  the  proprietor,  quality  of 
service  should  be  considered  the  very  essence  of 
good  merchandising.  It  is  a  fundamental  trait  of 
human  nature  to  consider  the  manner  in  which  a 
transaction  is  done  to  be  quite  as  important  as  the 
more  material  part  of  it.  When  the  storekeeper 
gets  into  the  city  he  likes  to  get  his  meals  at  a  first- 
class  restaurant.  Why  ?  Not  because  the  food  served 
to  him  is  really  any  better  than  he  would  get  at  a 
cheaper  restaurant,  but  because  the  service  is  better. 
In  other  words,  he  is  entirely  willing  to  pay  for  a 
superior  article  of  attention,  and  for  more  attractive 
surroundings.  If  he  is  observant  and  thoughtful 
he  will  at  once  realize  that  his  customers  are  made 
of  the  same  clay  as  himself,  and  that  they  will,  con- 
sciously or  unconsciously,  take  the  matter  of  service 
into  the  same  consideration  in  buying  goods  as  he 
does  in  buying  his  meals.  They  will,  as  he  does, 
put  a  premium  upon  attention,  attractiveness  of  sur- 
roundings and  promptness  and  reliability  of 
delivery,  not  to  speak  of  an  agreeable  manner  in 
those  who  render  the  service. 

55 


THE  MAKING  OF  A   MERCHANT 

Neatness  is  a  prime  essential  in  store  keeping. 
Many  merchants  have  found  their  trade  going  to 
their  competitors,  and  have  been  unable  to  account 
for  this  loss  of  patronage.  Knowing  their  mer- 
chandise to  be  as  good  as  that  sold  by  their  compet- 
itors and  their  prices  to  be  as  low,  they  were  unable 
to  account  for  this  loss  of  trade.  If  they  could 
have  taken  their  customers  into  their  confidence 
and  arrived  at  the  real  reason  of  this  falling  away 
of  patronage,  they  would  have  been  astonished  to 
learn  that  lack  of  neatness  was  the  real  cause  at 
the  bottom  of  the  matter.  This  observation  applies 
especially  to  stores  in  which  dry  goods  and  groceries 
are  sold,  for  the  reason  that,  to  a  very  large  extent, 
these  commodities  are  bought  by  women,  and  that 
there  is  nothing  against  which  woman  nature  so 
instinctively  rebels  as  disorder  and  dirt. 

To  put  it  less  bluntly,  women  are  especially 
sensitive  to  all  that  is  cleanly,  neat  and  attractive 
to  the  eye.  They  like  pleasant  and  tasteful  sur- 
roundings and  anything  which  suggests  disorder 
and  confusion  repels  them.  Although  perhaps  men 
are  not  generally  as  sensitive  to  these  things  as 
women,  at  the  same  time  they  are  confused  by  a 
disorderly  array  of  merchandise  and  are  attracted 
by  a  neat  and  pleasing  display  of  goods.  Any  well- 
circumstanced  man  or  woman  shrinks  from 

56 


THE   MAKING   OF   A   MERCHANT 

attempting  to  buy  in  a  store  where  the  stock  is 
untidy  and  '  'cluttered. "  Instinctively  the  best  trade 
in  any  community  will  gravitate  towards  the  store 
which  is  kept  up  in  the  most  orderly  and  attractive 
manner. 

Consequently,  not  only  will  the  merchant  who 
has  the  real  trading  instinct  be  awake  to  this 
important  element  in  merchandising,  but  he  will 
also  see  to  it  that  he  hires  clerks  who  have  a  sense 
of  neatness  and  order  and  have  an  ability  to  display 
goods  in  an  attractive  way.  As  a  general  rule,  the 
dry  goods  merchant  is  quicker  to  realize  this  than 
is  the  grocery  man,  but  dirt  and  disorder  in  the 
grocery  store  are  quite  as  distressing  and  inimical 
to  success  as  in  the  dry  goods  establishment.  Again, 
neatness  and  order  are  essential  to  the  success  of  the 
storekeepers  from  the  standpoint  of  economy,  as 
well  as  from  their  effect  upon  the  sensibility  of 
customers.  Goods  which  are  not  handled  with 
cleanliness,  neatness  and  order  deteriorate  much 
more  rapidly  than  those  which  are  kept  and  handled 
in  a  neat  and  orderly  manner.  The  cluttered,  ill- 
arranged  and  untidy  stock  of  goods  is  the  one  which 
is  going  down  hill  with  the  greatest  rapidity. 

Equally  important  in  the  manner  of  service  is  the 
quality  of  promptness.  This  comes  into  play  from 
the  moment  the  customer  enters  the  door  of  the 

57 


THE   MAKING   OF  A    MERCHANT 

store  until  the  goods  are  delivered  in  his  house. 
What  reader  has  not  heard  the  remark,  "I  like  to 
trade  with  Smith,  because  I  get  waited  upon  right 
away,  and  because  I  know  that  the  goods  I  order 
will  be  delivered  in  time  for  me  to  use  them  as  I 
have  planned/'  Thousands  of  times  grocerymen  in 
villages  and  small  cities  have  lost  good  customers 
because  the  goods  have  not  been  delivered  in  time 
for  the  next  meal.  This  may  be  caused  by  the 
slowness  or  the  carelessness  of  the  clerk  or  the 
delivery  boy,  or  perhaps  the  proprietor  "himself. 
But  no  matter  where  the  blame  may  rest,  the  disap- 
pointed customer  will  not  forget  the  incident,  and 
if  it  is  repeated  the  loss  of  the  family's  trade  is 
almost  sure  to  result.  This  suggests  the  not  unim- 
portant point  that  a  bright  and  active  delivery  boy 
is  quite  as  important  a  member  of  the  storekeeper's 
force  as  is  the  head  clerk. 

Many  merchants  are  prone  to  give  very  little 
consideration  to  the  selection  of  a  delivery  boy; 
but  this  is  decidedly  a  mistake.  The  right  kind 
of  a  delivery  boy  has  many  times  been  able  to 
hold  the  trade  of  a  customer  in  spite  of  defects 
in  goods  and  prices  and  in  the  service  rendered 
by  the  proprietor  and  his  clerks.  The  delivery  boy 
who  is  a  natural  "hustler"  is  a  tower  of  strength 
in  the  organization  of  any  store,  and  the  merchant 

58 


THE   MAKING  OF  A   MERCHANT 

who  does  not  recognize  this  fact  is  overlooking 
an  essential  point.  The  storekeeper  should  not 
forget  the  fact  that  the  delivery  boy  is  the  person 
who  closes  the  transaction,  and  who  goes  into  the 
homes  of  his  customers  to  do  so.  He  is,  so  to 
speak,  the  living  link  between  the  store  and  the 
home.  In  many  cases  much  of  the  buying  is  done 
by  servants,  and  it  is  the  delivery  boy  who  comes 
into  daily  contact  with  the  maid  of  the  house.  If 
this  work  is  done  in  a  prompt,  intelligent  and  agree- 
able manner  he  gets  a  personal  standing  in  the 
homes  at  which  he  calls,  and  not  infrequently  brings 
out  the  remark:  "They  may  be  a  little  slow  at 
the  store,  but  that  boy  is  all  right  and  can  be 
depended  upon  to  get  the  things  around  in  time 
and  in  good  shape." 

Perhaps  some  of  my  readers  may  feel  that  I 
place  too  much  importance  upon  the  delivery  boy, 
but  he  is  a  factor  in  community  trade  which  has 
received  altogether  too  little  consideration — and  per- 
haps he  also  generally  receives  too  little  compensa- 
tion. Certainly  there  is  no  kindergarten  for  the 
merchandising  business  equal  to  the  delivery  wagon, 
and  the  boy  who  makes  a  success  in  that  humble 
capacity  is  the  best  possible  timber  out  of  which  to 
make  a  clerk  or  proprietor. 

Already  I  have  suggested  the  necessity  of  atten- 
59 


THE   MAKING   OF  A   MERCHANT 

tiveness  to  customers.  This  should  be  instant,  in 
season  and  out  of  season,  from  the  moment  the  cus- 
tomer crosses  the  threshold  of  the  store  until  he 
goes  out  on  the  street  again.  There  is  nothing 
which  customers  more  invariably  resent  than  indif- 
ference on  the  part  of  the  storekeeper  or  his  clerk. 
To  go  into  a  store  and  be  forced  to  stand  about  with- 
out being  recognized  is  a  kind  of  treatment  which 
goes  against  the  grain  of  human  nature,  and  will 
not  be  tolerated  by  the  average  American.  Of 
course,  there  are  times  in  almost  every  store  when 
there  is  much  business  to  be  done  in  a  small  time, 
and  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to  keep  several  cus- 
tomers waiting.  This  does  not  mean,  however,  that 
there  is  any  necessity  for  the  proprietor  or  his  assis- 
tant to  fail  to  give  a  pleasant  word  of  greeting  to 
those  who  are  obliged  to  wait  their  turn. 

It  is  an  easy  matter  for  the  storekeeper  or  the 
clerk  to  give  a  nod  of  welcome  and  a  word  of  excuse 
to  those  who  cannot  be  immediately  served.  The 
customer  who  has  been  pleasantly  greeted  and  told 
that  he  will  receive  attention  in  a  few  minutes  will 
wait  cheerfully,  while  he  would  leave  the  store  in 
ill-humor  if  his  presence  were  entirely  ignored. 
The  ability  to  keep  waiting  customers  in  good  humor 
and  make  them  feel  that  they  are  not  neglected  is 
one  of  the  most  valuable  qualities  a  storekeeper  or  a 

60 


THE  MAKING  OF  A   MERCHANT 

clerk  can  possibly  possess.  Just  ordinary  courtesy 
and  attentiveness  demand  very  little  time,  and  they 
are  far  more  valuable  than  flattery  or  argument  in 
the  sale  of  goods. 

In  this  connection  it  should  be  said  that  flattery 
is  a  very  poor  crutch  for  the  salesman  to  lean  upon. 
The  average  American  citizen  is  generally  shrewd 
enough  to  detect  flattery  and  invariably  resents  it. 
Instant  and  unfailing  attentiveness  are  worth  vol- 
umes of  flattery  in  the  upbuilding  of  a  good  trade, 
and  the  salesman  who  is  always  promptly  attentive 
to  the  customer's  needs  and  who  does  not  "slop 
over"  is  a  trade-getter  and  trade-keeper  of  the 
highest  order. 

Perhaps  it  will  be  thought  that  a  word  of  caution 
with  regard  to  the  over-representation  of  goods  is 
entirely  superfluous  and  ungracious.  I  wish  this 
were  the  case,  but  I  fear  that  the  observation  is  not 
at  all  out  of  order.  Very  often  the  zeal  and  ambition 
of  the  clerk  carries  him  farther  in  this  direction 
than  his  employer  would  wish  him  to  go.  Again, 
there  are  those  in  the  merchandising  business,  as  in 
every  other  business,  who  allow  their  desire  for 
gain  to  impart  an  elastic  quality  to  their  consciences 
and  who  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  nothing  can  be 
more  fatal  to  their  final  success  than  misrepresen- 
tation, no  matter  in  how  mild  a  form. 

61 


THE   MAKING   OF  A   MERCHANT 

As  a  sheer  matter  of  policy  it  is  far  better  for  the 
merchant  to  understate  than  to  overstate  the  merits 
of  his  goods.  When  a  merchant  gains  a  reputation 
in  his  community  for  never  misrepresenting  his 
goods  he  is  on  the  high  road  to  success.  He  will 
command  the  trade  of  his  neighbors,  and  he  will 
hold  it  against  obstacles. 

In  selecting  his  clerks  every  merchant  should  give 
careful  consideration  to  securing  those  who  have 
tact,  pleasing  manners,  and  all  that  is  included  in 
the  term  "a  good  personal  address."  At  the  same 
time  it  will  be  well  for  him  to  remember  that  a 
clerk  may  have  all  of  these  qualities  and  still  be  a 
comparative  failure.  Many  a  merchant  employing 
quite  a  force  of  clerks  has  been  perplexed  by  the 
problems  presented  by  this  matter  of  "the  personal 
equation."  Here  is  a  clerk,  for  example,  who  out- 
classes all  his  fellow  workers  in  personal  popularity 
with  customers.  His  graces  of  manner  attract  the 
patrons  of  the  store  to  him  to  a  degree  which  marks 
him  as  an  exceptional  favorite.  At  the  same  time 
the  totals  of  his  sales  from  week  to  week  fall  below 
several  of  his  co-laborers  at  the  counter.  He  puts 
in  as  many  hours  as  they  do  and  works  as  dili- 
gently as  they.  Here,  on  the  face  of  things,  is  a 
clear  contradiction  which  is  decidedly  puzzling  the 
merchant.  What  is  the  difficulty? 

62 


THE   MAKING   OF  A    MERCHANT 

In  nearly  all  cases  of  this  kind,  and  they  are  so 
numerous  as  to  be  almost  general,  I  believe  the 
cause  of  the  trouble  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  popular 
clerk,  who  has  decidedly  the  lead  over  all  his  fellows, 
lacks  in  decision.  Not  long  ago  I  saw  an  interview 
on  this  very  subject  in  which  the  superintendent  of 
one  of  the  big  State  Street  retail  stores,  in  Chicago, 
hit  the  nail  squarely  on  the  head  so  far  as  this  point 
is  concerned.  He  related  how  he  had  been  puzzled 
to  reconcile  the  fact  that  the  most  popular  clerk  in 
the  fancy  dress  goods  department  took  about  third 
rank,  so  far  as  the  volume  of  his  sales  was  con- 
cerned. The  young  man  had  a  decided  charm  of 
manner  which  naturally  attracted  customers  to  him, 
and  it  was  apparent  to  the  management  that  this 
clerk  had  practically  first  call  on  a  large  percentage 
of  the  customers  who  came  to  the  department  to 
buy. 

At  last  the  superintendent  decided  to  give  his 
personal  attention  to  the  solution  of  this  very  inter- 
esting and  practical  riddle.  To  this  end  he  stationed 
himself  near  the  fancy  dress  goods  counter  and 
began  to  watch  the  young  man  at  his  work.  A 
young  matron  came  down  the  aisle,  passed  a  clerk 
who  was  at  liberty  to  wait  on  her  and  went  direct 
to  the  young  man  in  question.  It  so  happened  that 
the  superintendent  was  acquainted  with  the  woman, 

63 


THE   MAKING  OF  A   MERCHANT 

and  knew,  from  having  waited  on  her  himself 
before  promoted  to  an  executive  position,  that  she 
was  not  especially  difficult  to  please. 

She  handed  the  clerk  a  sample  of  goods  of  which 
she  was  having  a  skirt  made,  and  told  him  she 
wished  to  get  the  material  for  a  waist  which 
would  be  appropriate  to  wear  with  the  skirt.  He 
looked  at  the  sample,  turned  around  to  the  shelves 
and  started  to  take  out  a  bolt  of  goods,  hesitated, 
went  to  another,  and  then  still  to  another.  Then  he 
drew  out  two  or  three  bolts,  looked  at  them  and  fin- 
ally shoved  them  back  into  place.  After  making  sev- 
eral false  motions  of  this  kind  he  at  length  returned 
to  the  first  bolt  of  goods  which  his  hand  had 
touched,  drew  it  out,  and  displayed  it  on  the 
counter. 

To  the  keen  eyes  of  the  watchful  superintendent 
it  was  apparent  that  the  indecision  of  the  clerk  had 
communicated  itself  to  his  customer,  and  after 
examining  the  goods  in  a  somewhat  indifferent 
way,  she  asked  if  he  had  not  something  else  more 
attractive.  Then  he  took  down  the  bolts  which  he 
had  glanced  at  in  his  hesitating  pilgrimage  along 
the  shelves,  showed  them  to  his  customer  and  dis- 
cussed with  her  their  relative  merits.  Still,  she 
was  apparently  unsatisfied  and  he  once  more  ranged 
the  shelves  and  brought  down  other  patterns.  There 


THE   MAKING   OF   A    MERCHANT 

was  more  conversation  and  further  comparison  of 
goods,  and  for  the  third  time  he  turned  about  and 
began  to  search  in  a  somewhat  hopeless  and 
hesitating  way  along  the  shelves. 

More  than  once  the  customer  seemed  to  be  on 
the  very  point  of  decision,  but  finally  she  offered 
an  apology,  and,  saying  that  she  would  come  again, 
she  left  the  counter  without  buying. 

In  the  meantime  the  clerk  whom  she  had  passed 
by  had  waited  upon  three  customers  and  sold  to 
every  one  of  them.  His  manner  of  work  was  this : 
He  gave  very  careful  attention  to  the  description  of 
the  goods  wanted  by  his  customer  and  in  each  case 
asked  one  or  two  questions  to  bring  out  more  clearly 
the  desires  of  his  patron.  But  in  each  instance, 
after  he  had  learned  this,  he  turned  around  and  his 
hand  went  unhesitatingly  to  just  the  right  goods. 
There  was  decision  in  his  manner,  and  he  placed 
the  bolt  of  cloth  upon  the  counter  with  the  remark : 
"I  think  this  is  just  what  you  wish."  The  watch- 
ful eye  of  the  superintendent  had  taken  in  his  move- 
ments as  well  as  those  of  the  popular  clerk,  and 
was  convinced  of  two  things :  That  the  taste  or 
judgment  of  the  clerk  who  made  the  three  sales 
was  no  better  than  that  of  the  popular  clerk  who 
failed  to  make  his  sales;  second,  that  the  decision 

65 


THE   MAKING   OF  A   MERCHANT 

with  which  the  less  popular  clerk  acted  was  the 
secret  of  his  success. 

The  conclusions  of  this  superintendent  were,  to 
my  mind,  entirely  correct.  He  found  out  why  the 
man  who  attracted  the  fewer  customers  was  able 
to  make  the  greater  number  of  sales.  Incidentally 
it  may  be  added  that  the  popular  clerk  remained  at 
the  fancy  dress  goods  counter,  while  the  other  was 
promoted  to  the  head  of  the  department. 

Time  and  again,  in  my  own  experience,  I  have 
seen  this  incident  paralleled.  The  gift  of  closing  a 
bargain  is  by  no  means  a  common  one,  and  it  is 
left  out  of  the  composition  of  many  clerks  who  are 
otherwise  well  equipped.  And  right  here  it  should 
be  added  that  without  this  gift  all  others  are  of  no 
avail.  No  matter  how  skillfully  the  negotiations 
may  be  conducted  up  to  the  "sticking  point,"  unless 
they  go  beyond  that  point  they  are  useless.  While 
indecision  on  the  part  of  the  salesman  is  the  beset- 
ting sin  which  generally  causes  failure  to  close 
the  bargain,  there  are  other  elements  which 
contribute  to  this  undesirable  end. 

One  of  these  is  the  inability  to  shut  out  other 
matters  from  the  conversation  of  the  moment. 
Only  the  unskillful  salesman  will  allow  his  cus- 
tomer to  drag  him  into  general  conversation  when 
he  is  actively  engaged  in  displaying  goods  and 

66 


THE   MAKING   OF   A   MERCHANT 

attempting  to  get  his  patron's  decision.  This  does 
not  mean  that  it  is  not  wise  to  chat  pleasantly  with 
customers  about  social  and  personal  matters,  but 
it  does  mean  that  this  should  not  be  done  when 
once  the  business  of  selling  is  really  in  hand.  Any- 
thing which  distracts  the  mind  of  the  customer 
from  the  vital  point  at  issue  is  always  to  be 
avoided.  Let  all  the  visiting  be  done  either  before 
the  display  of  goods  has  begun  or  after  the  bargain 
has  been  concluded. 

Before  leaving  the  subject  of  what  the  store- 
keeper should  consider  in  the  selection  of  his  help, 
let  me  say  that,  as  a  general  thing,  the  employment 
of  relatives  is  to  be  avoided.  It  is  not  an  over 
statement  of  the  case,  I  think,  to  say  that  traveling 
salesmen  are  well  agreed  upon  the  fact  that  when 
they  find  a  storekeeper  whose  force  is  made  up  of 
his  sons,  daughters,  nieces  and  nephews,  he  is  con- 
sidered as  struggling  under  a  distinct  handicap, 
and  his  progress  is  watched  with  especial  care. 
This  is,  perhaps,  only  another  way  of  saying  that 
the  man  who  selects  his  assistants  because  they  are 
relatives  is  not  at  liberty  to  make  the  selection  on 
the  broader  lines  of  their  real  qualifications  for  the 
work  in  hand;  they  are  not  employed,  in  short,  be- 
cause they  are  especially  gifted  in  the  qualities  of 
good  salesmanship,  but  because  they  happen  to  be 

67 


THE   MAKING   OF  A    MERCHANT 

his  kin.  And  even  if  they  were  as  well  equipped  in 
every  particular  as  those  he  might  hire  who  were 
not  his  relatives,  he  is  still  at  a  disadvantage, — 
from  the  fact  that  they  cannot  avoid,  at  least  uncon- 
sciously, presuming  to  some  extent  upon  the  tie 
of  relationship. 

It  is  practically  impossible  for  the  average  man 
to  maintain  the  discipline  with  a  force  of  employees 
who  are  related  to  him  as  with  those  to  whom  he 
is  simply  an  employer  and  nothing  more.  Still 
another  element  enters  into  this  question  of  the  em- 
ployment of  relatives.  If  one  clerk  is  related  to  the 
employer  and  the  other  is  not,  the  latter  is  almost 
invariably  inclined  to  feel  this  fellow  clerk  has  the 
best  of  him  because  of  this  relationship.  A  situa- 
tion of  this  kind  almost  invariably  results  in  jeal- 
ousy, dissension  and  open  outbreak.  It  is  human 
nature  that  this  should  be  the  case,  and  there  are 
few  things  more  detrimental  to  the  interests  of  a 
merchandising  house,  no  matter  how  small,  than 
a  lack  of  practical  working  harmony  among 
employees. 

This  reason  alone,  in  my  opinion,  is  sufficient 
to  dictate  the  desirability  of  not  employing  a  store 
force  made  up  of  both  relatives  of  the  proprietor 
and  those  who  are  unrelated  to  him.  If  relatives 
must  be  employed,  then  have  the  entire  force  made 

68 


THE   MAKING   OF   A    MERCHANT 

up  of  them,  so  that  such  feeling  of  favoritism  and 
jealousy  may  be  partially  avoided.  But  this  course 
is  seldom  practicable. 

If  any  other  reasons  are  needed  to  convince  the 
reader  that  it  is  poor  policy  for  a  storekeeper  to 
employ  his  kin,  it  should  be  remembered  that  any 
person  feels  a  greater  incentive  to  do  his  utmost 
when  working  for  a  person  who  is  entirely  unre- 
lated to  him,  than  when  working  for  an  employer 
to  whom  he  is  attached  by  family  ties.  The  feeling 
that  he  is  standing  absolutely  upon  his  own  merit, 
and  making  his  own  way,  is  invariably  the  strong- 
est kind  of  an  incentive  with  any  young  man  who 
has  real  strength  and  stability  of  character.  I 
place  so  much  stress  upon  this  matter  of  the 
employment  of  relatives  because  I  feel  it  to  be  of 
great  importance  and  general  interest.  The  prac- 
tice of  hiring  relatives  is  well  nigh  universal  among 
the  smaller  storekeepers  of  the  country  and  a  very 
large  percentage  of  them  have  learned  from  prac- 
tical experience  that  the  course  is  a  mistaken  one; 
but  they  feel  themselves  almost  helpless  to  discon- 
tinue it. 

However,  they  would  far  better  create  a  little 
family  feeling  right  at  the  start  and  have  it  over 
with,  than  to  make  the  still  greater  mistake  of 
dragging  the  thing  along  and  allowing  it  to  become 

69 


THE   MAKING   OF  A   MERCHANT 

more  serious.  There  are  literally  thousands  of 
stores  whose  proprietors  have  attempted  to  run 
them  on  the  "family  help"  plan,  only  to  find  the 
experiment  ending  in  disaster  and  often  in  family 
misunderstandings  and  feuds  which  have  lasted  for 
years  and  caused  great  unhappiness.  As  a  general 
thing,  the  experiment  is  tried  because  it  is  believed 
to  be  a  much  cheaper  way  of  securing  help,  but  in 
ninety  per  cent  of  the  cases  where  it  is  tried,  I  am 
convinced,  it  has  actually  been  proven  to  be  the 
most  expensive  instead  of  the  most  economical  way 
of  securing  help.  Then,  taking  also  into  consid- 
eration the  fact  that  family  help  is  generally  the 
least  efficient  kind,  for  the  reasons  I  have  already 
tried  to  make  clear,  there  is  little  ground  left  for 
believing  it  to  be  anything  but  a  failure. 

While  the  storekeeper  should  keep  the  most 
careful  and  constant  watch  upon  every  one  in  his 
employ,  he  should  be  slow  to  accuse  a  clerk  or  any 
other  member  of  his  force  of  dishonesty.  Lax 
methods  of  accounting  are  often,  if  not  generally, 
the  cause  of  apparent  discrepancies  which  lead  to 
suspecting  crookedness  on  the  part  of  employees. 
The  merchant  who  does  not  keep  his  books  in  con- 
dition which  will  tell  him  at  any  time  just  exactly 
his  standing,  to  a  dollar,  is  in  a  poor  position  to 
bring  accusations  against  a  clerk  or  cashier  unless 

70 


THE   MAKING   OF  A   MERCHANT 

he  has  absolute  knowledge  of  that  employee's  dis- 
honesty or  misconduct. 

It  is  scarcely  too  much  to  say  that  the  first 
impulse  on  the  part  of  the  storekeeper  who  arrives 
at  the  conclusion  that  there  must  be  a  "leak  some- 
where" in  his  business  is  to  accuse  a  clerk  of  steal- 
ing. There  is  neither  justice  nor  common  sense  in 
acting  upon  this  impulse  without  solid  facts  upon 
which  to  base  the  accusation.  Many  a  merchant, 
by  hasty  action  of  this  sort,  has  not  only  deprived 
himself  of  a  useful  assistant,  but  he  has  also 
shamed  and  humiliated,  if  not  actually  disgraced,  a 
clerk  entitled  to  respect  and  confidence.  If  a  mer- 
chant employs  his  relatives  he  should,  on  their 
account,  as  much  as  his  own,  watch  them  with  the 
same  care  that  he  would  a  clerk  entirely  unrelated 
to  him.  Not  only  does  this  course  establish  a 
proper  sense  of  responsibility  but  it  also  promotes 
the  feeling  among  his  clerks  that  he  is  fair  and 
impartial.  Again,  if  a  situation  arises  in  the  store 
which  seems  clearly  to  indicate  that  some  employee 
is  indulging  in  peculations,  the  relative  of  the  pro- 
prietor is  in  a  far  better  position,  under  a  system 
of  impartial  scrutiny,  than  if  the  head  of  the  estab- 
lishment took  it  for  granted  that  it  was  only  neces- 
sary for  him  to  watch  those  of  his  help  not  con- 
nected with  him  fry  family  ties. 


THE   MAKING   OF  A   MERCHANT 

A  practically  universal  source  of  loss  to  country 
merchants  is  the  failure  to  charge  all  the  goods 
which  go  out  of  the  store.  It  is  scarcely  too  much 
to  say  that  there  is  not  a  single  country  store  in 
existence  which  does  not  suffer  a  loss  of  one  to  five 
per  cent  of  its  business  from  this  cause.  Conse- 
quently, the  first  thing  for  the  wide-awake  store- 
keeper to  do  is  to  settle  it  with  himself  that  not  a 
dime's  worth  of  goods  shall  go  out  of  his  estab- 
lishment, unless  charged  or  paid  for. 

This  resolution  cannot  be  made  really  effective 
unless  the  storekeeper  has  determination  enough 
to  resort  to  the  radical  measure  of  throwing  out 
the  time-honored  old  style  daybook,  as  a  book  of 
original  entry,  and  substituting  in  its  place  the 
duplicate  carbon  slip  system.  No  matter  how  fre- 
quently and  emphatically  he  may  tell  his  clerks  to 
charge  every  item  "if  the  house  is  on  fire,"  they 
will  sooner  or  later  begin  to  leave  items  uncharged, 
if  the  old  daybook  system  is  adhered  to.  The 
clerk,  for  example,  is  standing  in  front  of  the  store, 
doing  up  a  package  of  fruit  for  a  charge  customer, 
when  a  carriage  drives  up  and  its  occupant  beckons 
to  the  clerk  to  come  to  the  edge  of  the  curb-stone. 
In  the  course  of  taking  the  order  of  the  lady  in 
the  carriage,  he  naturally  forgets  to  charge  the  fruit 
which  he  hastily  pushed  into  the  hands  of  the  other 

72 


THE   MAKING   OF  A    MERCHANT 

customer.  If  an  instance  of  this  kind  has  occurred 
once  it  has  ten  thousand  times  in  the  history  of 
store  keeping,  and  that  is  putting  it  very  mildly. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is  a  daily  occurrence  in  almost 
every  town  in  the  United  States.  There  is  no 
remedy  for  it  excepting  to  change  the  system. 

Each  clerk  should  be  supplied  with  a  little  flimsy 
book  of  the  style  used  by  all  clerks  in  modern  city 
department  stores.  Each  leaf  of  this  book  is  made 
up  of  a  stub  and  detachable  leaf  with  a  sheet  of  car- 
bon between,  so  that  the  entries  on  one  are  mani- 
folded upon  the  other  at  the  same  writing. 

There  is  room  for  several  items  on  each  slip  and 
stub,  and  the  stubs,  with  their  corresponding  slips, 
are  numbered  consecutively  throughout  the  book. 
The  rule  for  handling  these  books  is,  that  each  pur- 
chaser, whether  a  charge  or  a  cash  customer,  must 
receive  along  with  his  goods  the  slip  containing  the 
memorandum  of  his  purchases.  The  customers 
very  soon  learn  that  they  are  expected  to  take  this 
memorandum,  and  consequently  they  quickly  fall 
into  the  way  of  expecting  it. 

This  system  has  various  other  advantages  beyond 
that  of  making  it  more  difficult  for  the  clerk  to 
let  goods  go  without  charging  them.  As  each  clerk 
has  his  individual  charge  book  it  is  a  very  easy 
matter  for  the  storekeeper  to  keep  accurate  account 

73 


THE   MAKING   OF  A   MERCHANT 

of  the  business  done  by  each  clerk.  In  other  words, 
he  has  readily  at  his  hand  the  total  of  each  clerk's 
sales  for  a  day,  a  week,  a  month  or  a  year.  Again, 
it  should  be  remembered  that  the  mere  volume  of 
a  clerk's  sales  is  not  always  a  true  criterion  of  his 
salesmanship.  In  other  words,  some  clerks  get  into 
the  habit  of  increasing  the  volume  of  their  sales  at 
the  expense  of  the  proprietor's  profits. 

The  practice  of  cutting  prices  is  quite  as  much 
a  matter  of  personal  disposition  as  it  is  of  neces- 
sity. Without  realizing  it,  clerks  who  have  a  weak- 
ness in  this  direction  fall  into  the  way  of  shaving 
a  little  off  from  the  price  whenever  there  seems  to 
be  the  slightest  possible  excuse  for  so  doing.  Others 
adopt  this  practice  deliberately  and  for  the  purpose 
of  making  the  total  of  their  sales  look  attractive 
in  the  eyes  of  the  storekeeper,  thus  paying  him 
the  poor  compliment  of  believing  that  he  is  not 
shrewd  and  discerning  enough  to  detect  their  trick. 
Of  course  the  store's  regular  books  of  entry  are 
written  up  from  the  stubs  of  these  small  books,  and 
if  a  number  is  missing  in  any  one  of  them  it  is  a 
legitimate  reason  for  inquiry.  Not  fifty  per  cent 
of  the  country  merchants  use  these  books,  which 
would,  in  my  opinion,  probably  cut  down  three- 
fourths  of  "lost  charges." 

Economy  of  time  is  another  matter  altogether 
74 


THE   MAKING   OF  A   MERCHANT 

too  slightly  considered  by  the  average  storekeeper. 
There  is  always  something  to  be  done  about  the 
store,  and  the  successful  merchant  is  one  who  is 
best  able  to  employ  to  advantage  the  time  of  his 
clerks  when,  they  are  not  occupied  by  waiting  on 
customers.  It  is  not  sufficient,  however,  to  keep 
the  clerks  occupied  to  advantage,  during  all  their 
work  hours,  but  the  matter  of  economy  in  time 
should  extend  beyond  this,  and  be  applied  to  a  suit- 
able arrangement  of  convenience.  The  merchant 
who  has  his  stock  so  arranged  as  to  handle  it  to  the 
best  possible  advantage  can  make  a  saving  any- 
where from  fifteen  to  twenty-five  per  cent  of  actual 
labor  in  the  dealing  out  of  goods.  It  is  not  to  be 
expected  that  the  country  store  can  be  designed 
upon  a  model  plan  as  can  the  big  city  merchandis- 
ing establishments;  but  it  is  true  that  the  number 
of  country  stores  in  which  the  maximum  of  possible 
convenience  has  been  obtained  through,  an  intelli- 
gent arrangement  of  merchandise  is  small. 

So  far  as  the  advertising  to  be  done  by  the  mer- 
chant is  concerned,  little  need  be  said  beyond  the 
simple  statement  that  he  should  always  bear  in 
mind  that  trait  of  human  nature  which  will  cause 
a  customer  to  go  to  unusual  pains  and  inconvenience 
in  order  to  get  the  benefit  of  a  bargain.  He  may 
depend  upon  it  that  if  he  advertises  some  staple 

75 


THE   MAKING   OF  A    MERCHANT 

article  at  a  figure  which  the  public  knows  must 
be  very  close  to  cost,  or  below  it,  he  will  draw 
special  custom  to  his  store — and  that  when  these 
customers  are  once  within  his  doors  they  will  nat- 
urally buy  other  goods  not  advertised  or  sold  at 
a  sacrifice  price.  This,  it  seems  to  me,  is  the  whole 
story  of  success  in  advertising,  so  far  as  it  con- 
cerns the  general  storekeeper.  The  thrifty  farmer 
will  drive  five  miles  over  muddy  roads  in  order 
to  get  a  barrel  of  salt  on  which  he  knows  he  is 
saving  ten  cents,  while  at  the  same  time  he  will 
buy  other  goods  which  the  thrifty  merchant  sells 
him  at  a  good  margin  of  profit. 

Before  dismissing  the  subject  of  selling  goods,  it 
should  be  said  that  the  storekeeper  must  always 
keep  in  mind  the  principle  of  not  allowing  his  cus- 
tomers to  make  his  prices.  The  world  is  full  of 
shrewd  buyers,  and  every  town  has  its  proportion  of 
them.  These  sharp  traders  have  learned  that  if 
they  can  set  the  prices  on  the  merchant's  goods,  they 
will  get  the  best  end  of  the  bargain.  When  a  cus- 
tomer comes  into  a  store  and  informs  the  merchant 
that  his  competitor  is  selling  sugar  for  two  cents 
less  than  the  price  which  has  just  been  named  to 
him,  the  storekeeper  should  at  once  settle  it  with 
himself  that  he  is  establishing  a  dangerous  prece- 
dent, and  playing  into  the  hands  of  the  customer, 


THE  MAKING  OF  A   MERCHANT 

if  this  reported  cut  in  price  is  met  without  careful 
investigation.  And  even  then,  he  should  generally 
stand  firm  and  refuse  to  meet  this  competitive 
attack.  The  man  who  sells  the  right  goods  in  the 
right  way  has  no  need  to  do  business  at  a  loss  on 
any  article  or  to  allow  his  competitor  or  his  cus- 
tomers to  make  his  prices. 

There  are  two  classes  of  merchants  who  keep  up 
the  large  percentage  of  failures  in  this  line  of  busi- 
ness. These  are  the  merchants  who  are  not  con- 
tented with  small  beginnings,  but  insist  on  starting 
out  with  a  splurge  and  a  show  involving  an  invest- 
ment and  expenditure  beyond  that  which  the  busi- 
ness will  warrant,  and  those  who,  on  the  other 
hand,  are  content  to  drift  like  logs  down  the  stream 
and  feel  that  they  are  doing  a  fairly  good  business 
if  they  are  able  to  make  sixty  dollars  a  month  with 
nothing  charged  for  carrying  their  investment. 

There  are  thousands  of  small  storekeepers  who 
are  satisfied  to  make  the  wage  of  a  day  laborer  and 
who  have  little  ambition  beyond  this.  Of  course, 
this  means  that  the  margin  between  the  profit  and 
loss  of  their  total  business  is  so  small  that  a  little 
carelessness  or  a  little  misfortune  turns  their  bal- 
ance against  them,  while  their  capital  is  so  small 
and  their  resources  are  so  limited  that  they  are 
unable  to  stand  their  reverse,  even  in  a  temporary 

77 


THE   MAKING   OF  A    MERCHANT 

way,  and  are,  therefore,  closed  up  by  their  cred- 
itors. This  should  emphasize  the  fact  that  no  mat- 
ter how  small  may  be  the  business  of  the  store- 
keeper, it  is  absolutely  essential  to  his  existence  to 
figure  his  cost  so  that  no  item  or  element  will  be 
left  out,  to  see  that  all  of  his  running  expenses  or 
fixed  charges  are  included  in  his  cost,  that  no  goods 
are  permitted  to  pass  over  his  counter  without 
being  paid  for  or  charged,  that  he  practices  thor- 
ough economy,  and  does  so  in  a  consistent  and  sys- 
tematic way,  which  applies  both  to  his  handling 
of  goods  and  to  his  use  of  the  services  of  his 
employees;  that  he  keeps  his  store  in  a  clean  and 
attractive  manner,  and  that  he  does  not  allow  his 
customers  or  his  competitors  to  lead  him  into  mak- 
ing prices  which  do  not  yield  him  a  fair  and  sub- 
stantial profit.  By  thus  stopping  all  the  little  leaks 
on  the  one  hand  and  by  a  consistent  and  energetic 
expansion  of  profitable  business  on  the  other,  the 
storekeeper  may  amass  a  very  comfortable  com- 
petency in  almost  any  locality  which  enjoys  a  rea- 
sonable degree  of  prosperity.  Depend  upon  it, 
every  community  will  have  its  prosperous  store- 
keeper and  he  will  succeed  because  he  conducts  his 
business  upon  the  principles  which  have  been 
indicated. 


CHAPTER  V 
BUYING  MERCHANDISE 

THE  most  successful  merchants,  the  country 
over,  are  those  who  meet  competition  by  giv- 
ing their  customers  better,  instead  of  cheaper,  goods. 
This  should  be  a  settled  principle  in  buying  stock. 
The  moment  the  storekeeper  becomes  possessed  of 
the  idea  that  cheapness  in  prices  is  the  main  consid- 
eration in  merchandising  he  will  start  upon  the 
accumulation  of  a  stock  which  will  sooner  or  later 
sacrifice  his  standing  with  the  most  desirable  trade 
of  his  community.  If  he  does  not  himself  thor- 
oughly understand  the  quality  of  the  goods  he  must 
buy,  his  first  concern  should  be  to  get  some  person 
in  his  store  who  is  thoroughly  posted  in  that 
particular. 

One  of  the  easily  besetting  temptations  which 
assail  the  merchant  in  the  buying  of  goods  is 
the  delusion  that  he  can  profit  himself  by  becoming 
what  is  known  in  the  trade  as  a  "snap  hunter." 
He  proceeds  upon  the  notion  that  every  commercial 
traveler  has  his  special  bargain,  and  that  the  secret 

79 


THE   MAKING  OF  A   MERCHANT 

of  shrewd  buying  is  to  get  from  each  drummer 
his  own  particular  "snap."  He  is  a  wise  merchant 
who  makes  up  his  mind  at  the  outset  that  it  is 
far  more  profitable  to  hunt  customers  than  to  hunt 
"snaps."  Those  who  are  most  given  to  the  theory 
and  practice  of  "snap  hunting/'  are  those  who  will 
justify  themselves  by  quoting  the  old  saying  that 
"Goods  well  bought  are  half  sold."  While  there 
is,  of  course,  a  grain  of  truth  in  this  saying,  it 
is  equally  true  that  in  most  cases  the  common 
sense  of  the  observation  is  distorted  and  misapplied. 
Generally  the  maxim  is  used  to  bolster  up  the  idea 
that  time  and  energy  spent  in  beating  down  the 
traveling  salesman  and  "getting  the  best  of  him," 
and  consequently  of  local  competitors,  is  time  well 
spent.  The  first  essential  of  successful  buying  is 
the  sound  knowledge  of  goods  and  of  values. 
Careless  buying  is  inexcusable,  but  time  spent  in 
petty  trafficking  is  generally  unprofitable,  and  the 
good  merchant  will  not  descend  to  this.  In  other 
words,  the  confirmed  "snap  hunter"  generally  helps 
in  the  end  to  swell  the  ranks  of  the  failures. 

Another  mistake  frequently  made  by  the  mer- 
chant who  is  not  uncommonly  broad  in  his  mental 
grasp  of  things  is  the  notion  that  he  is  acting 
shrewdly  to  split  his  business  up  between  two  or 
more  jobbers  in  order  to  get  them  to  bid  against 

So 


THE   MAKING  OF  A    MERCHANT 

each  other.  This  is  known  in  the  wholesale  trade 
as  "going  out  jobbing,"  and  the  inevitable  result 
of  this  practice  is  to  make  the  buyer's  trade  unde- 
sirable to  any  of  the  firms  with  which  he  attempts 
to  do  business.  While  it  is  possible  that  this  kind 
of  a  trick  may  be  worked  by  a  merchant  to  his 
temporary  advantage,  he  gives  the  jobber  too  little 
credit  for  shrewdness  and  intelligence,  when  he 
thinks  that  this  game  can  be  played  indefinitely 
with  success.  Splitting  up  his  trade  among  several 
jobbers  can  have  but  one  result  for  the  merchant: 
All  of  the  jobbers  will  soon  realize  that  he  is 
a  bird  of  passage  and  that  they  must  get  what  they 
can  out  of  him  in  short  order.  They  will  find 
his  weakness  as  a  buyer  and  will  make  him  pay 
for  his  instability  and  shiftiness. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  however,  the  very  best  job- 
bing houses  will  discourage  the  business  of  a  buyer 
of  this  sort,  and  will  have  as  little  to  do  with  him 
as  possible.  They  will  be  quick  to  realize  that 
his  business  is  not  worth  while,  and  that  he  will 
never  become  a  steady  and  valuable  customer. 

It  is  always  worth  while  for  the  merchant  to 
make  his  business  an  object  to  a  good  jobber. 
This  not  only  results  in  giving  the  storekeeper 
the  support  of  a  good  line  of  credit,  but  it  also 
insures  him  the  permanent  and  active  interest  of 

81 


THE   MAKING   OF   A   MERCHANT 

the  jobber  in  his  welfare  and  progress.  There  are 
a  hundred  ways  in  which  the  man  in  the  jobbing 
house  can  favor  the  merchant,  and  he  is  bound  to 
do  this  if  the  storekeeper  is  a  steady  and  valued 
customer.  In  short,  there  is  only  one  rule  for  the 
storekeeper  to  observe  in  his  buying  and  that  is  to 
make  his  business  an  object  to  the  jobber.  I  know 
of  a  wholesale  grocer  who  waited  ten  years  to 
get  the  business  of  a  certain  country  merchant  who 
refused  to  place  an  order  for  oil  at  two  cents 
under  the  market  price.  That  storekeeper  made 
more  money  than  his  three  competitors  combined, 
and  he  made  it  by  standing  by  his  jobber  as  long 
as  that  jobber  treated  him  right. 

The  storekeeper  who  attempts  to  buy  his  goods 
by  submitting  lists  to  various  jobbing  houses  and 
having  them  all  bid  upon  the  same  goods  does 
not  realize  that  there  are  tricks  in  the  jobbing  trade 
as  well  as  in  the  retail  merchandising  business; 
and  that  some  shifty  wholesaler  will  undoubtedly 
send  in  a  bid  which  will  look  to  be  very  much 
lower  than  the  total  of  the  bid  submitted  by  the 
more  established  high-class  jobber.  Naturally  the 
low  bid  is  the  one  accepted,  and  the  country  store- 
keeper feels  that  he  has  done  a  very  cunning  piece 
of  trading  until  he  actually  receives  the  goods. 
Then  he  discovers  that  certain  of  the  articles  pur- 

82 


THE   MAKING   OF  A    MERCHANT 

chased  are  of  inferior  grade  or  quality  to  those 
demanded  in  his  specifications. 

A  common  practice  among  country  merchants 
who  do  not  feel  entire  confidence  in  their  own 
judgment  of  goods  and  values  is  to  take  with 
them  to  the  city  some  friend  who,  they  feel,  is 
better  posted  than  themselves.  In  most  cases  of 
this  kind  the  friend  in  point  is  an  ex-storekeeper, 
and  he,  of  course,  has  his  particular  friends  in  the 
jobbing  house  to  which  he  takes  the  merchant. 
This  practice  is  so  common,  that  the  man  who  is 
in  the  hands  of  a  "pilot"  is  instantly  identified 
and  the  "friend"  is  at  once  made  aware  of  the 
fact  that  his  services  will  be  substantially  appre- 
ciated in  one  way  or  another.  Besides,  this  practice 
of  putting  one's  self  in  the  hands  of  a  friend  is 
a  confession  of  weakness  and  inexperience,  and 
is  so  regarded  by  the  men  at  the  jobbing  houses. 

The  wisest  course  is  for  the  merchant  to  select 
a  good  responsible  jobbing  house,  which  does  busi- 
ness in  the  manner  in  which  he  has  confidence,  and 
to  say  to  the  management:  "I'm  going  to  give 
you  a  chance  at  my  trade,  and  if  you  take  care 
of  me  right,  and  stand  by  me,  I  will  stand  by  you." 
This  at  once  puts  him  on  a  proper  footing,  and 
if  the  jobbing  house  is  a  reputable  one  the  arrange- 

83 


THE  MAKING  OF  A  MERCHANT 

ment  will  certainly  prove  to  his  advantage  in  the 
long  run. 

Buying  ahead  on  long  datings  and  overloading 
is  a  common  mistake  among  country  merchants, 
and  a  practice  which  invariably  leads  to  loss  and 
disadvantage.  The  storekeeper  should  not  delude 
himself  with  the  idea  that  he  is  going  to  gain 
anything  by  this  subterfuge — for  the  system  of 
long  datings  can  scarcely  be  described  by  a  milder 
term.  He  may  be  sure  that  he  is  not  going  to 
get  any  great  concession  from  the  jobbing  house 
in  the  matter  of  delivery  in  the  future  without 
paying  for  it,  somewhere  along  the  line.  His 
greatest  advantage  with  the  management  of  the 
jobbing  house  will  be  to  establish  the  under- 
standing that  he  is  a  conservative  buyer,  always 
willing  to  pay  a  fair  price  for  goods,  and  that  he 
is  doing  business  upon  a  safe,  sane  and  sound 
basis.  This  will  do  more  for  him  than  any 
amount  of  shrewd  "dickering."  Inevitably  the 
jobber  will  form  the  conclusion  that  the  man  who 
does  his  business  with  the  jobbing  house  upon 
this  basis  will  apply  the  same  principles  in  dealing 
with  his  own  customers,  and  that  he  is,  therefore, 
a  customer  well  worth  keeping  and  taking  care 
of  in  the  best  possible  manner. 

It   is    well    for   the  merchant   to   recognize   the 
84 


THE   MAKING  OF  A   MERCHANT 

fact  that  while  the  traveling  salesman  may  be,  and 
doubtless  is,  a  valued  adviser,  he  has  his  limita- 
tions, so  far  as  his  authority  in  the  house  is  con- 
cerned. There  are  many  favors  which  it  is  easy  for 
a  traveling  man  to  promise,  but  difficult  and  im- 
possible for  him  to  deliver. 


CHAPTER   VI 
THE   TREATMENT    OF    EMPLOYEES 

IN  a  preceding  chapter  I  attempted  some  practical 
suggestions  to  the  end  of  indicating  how  the 
young  employee  may  secure  favor  and  advancement 
with  his  employer.  There,  only  the  conduct  of  the 
servant  was  considered,  and  nothing  was  said 
regarding  the  responsibilities  of  the  master.  The 
successful  merchant  cannot  ignore  these  responsi- 
bilities. 

A  very  large  proportion  of  the  Americans  who 
have  builded  great  businesses  and  made  their  names 
familiar  to  a  large  public  confess  that  they  find 
their  chief  pleasure  in  following  the  daily  routine 
of  traffic  at  a  time  when  they  have  no  longer  any 
financial  necessity  for  so  doing.  For  this,  we  as 
a  nation  are  sharply  criticised  by  our  European 
friends,  who  declare  that  in  the  absorbing  race 
for  success  we  forget  how  to  enjoy  the  fortunes 
after  they  have  been  secured.  These  critics  say 
that  the  most  pitiable  spectacle  in  the  world  is  the 
millionaire  who  becomes  a  slave  to  the  habit  of 

86 


THE   MAKING   OF  A    MERCHANT 

money-getting  and  cannot  take  himself  from  his 
sordid  tasks.  To  a  degree  this  observation  is  sadly 
true,  and  America  has  very  many  men  of  great 
fortune  who  appear  to  have  small  capacity  for  any 
pleasure  other  than  that  of  increasing  their 
wealth.  But  there  is  another  side  to  the  picture 
of  the  wealthy  business  man  who  sticks  to  his  desk 
long  after  his  fortune  is  greater  than  he  could 
reasonably  spend  during  the  remainder  of  his 
lifetime. 

It  would  be  well-nigh  impossible  to  convince 
men  of  a  certain  class  that  very  many  of  these  men, 
who  have  no  necessity  to  work,  keep  to  their  tasks 
from  a  sense  of  duty  to  their  fellowmen — and  most 
particularly  to  their  own  employees.  This,  how- 
ever, is  true  in  scores  and  hundreds  of  instances. 
If  the  secret  motives  of  business  men  who  have 
been  scoffed  and  sneered  at  as  mercenary  and 
miserly,  because  they  did  not  retire  to  a  life  of 
ease  and  idleness  when  their  wealth  overtopped 
the  "dream  of  avarice,"  could  be  understood,  it 
would  be  seen  that  a  very  large  proportion  of  them 
have  kept  steadily  at  their  self-appointed  tasks  for 
the  sake  of  the  small  army  of  men,  women  and 
children  depending  for  the  necessities  of  life  upon 
the  safe  conduct  of  the  great  enterprises  managed 
by  these  men.  I  think  this  spirit  is  particularly 

87 


THE   MAKING  OF  A   MERCHANT 

characteristic  of  those  who  have  made  great 
fortunes  in  mercantile  pursuits  rather  than  in  specu- 
lative fields. 

The  reason  for  this  sense  of  responsibility  on 
the  part  of  wealthy  merchants  is  not  difficult  to 
find.  Generally  their  fortunes  have  been  of  com- 
paratively slow  growth,  and  in  the  process  of  their 
building,  the  "merchant  princes,"  as  the  newspapers 
describe  them,  are  brought  into  close  and  long 
associations  with  their  employees,  and  would  be 
scarcely  human  if  they  did  not  find  themselves 
deeply  interested  in  the  welfare  of  the  men  who 
served  their  interests,  even  though  it  be  a  service 
for  hire.  Many  a  conscientious  merchant  worth 
millions  has  said  to  himself,  and  possibly  to  his 
nearest  friend:  "I'd  like  to  let  go  of  work  entirely, 
take  a  long  trip  and  make  a  business  of  pleasure- 
seeking,  but  I'm  interested  in  my  men  and  have 
plans  for  their  good  that  can  only  be  carried  out 
after  careful  foundations  have  been  laid.  So  I'm 
going  to  stick  to  work  until  I  can  see  things  so 
firmly  established  that  it  will  not  cause  a  ripple 
of  disturbance  when  I  do  step  out.  And  perhaps 
I  shall  get  quite  as  much  enjoyment  in  doing  this 
as  in  searching  for  pleasure  outside  of  work." 

This  attitude  is  certainly  that  of  many  wealthy 
merchants  and  other  large  employers  of  labor,  and 

88 


THE   MAKING  OF  A    MERCHANT 

if  their  employees  could  only  appreciate  this  fact 
it  would  make  the  service  of  both  a  delight,  and 
would  change  the  aspect  of  the  labor  world.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  must  be  admitted  that  not  all 
large  employers  are  sufficiently  unselfish  to  take  this 
view  of  their  opportunities;  but  of  such  it  must 
be  said  that  they  do  not  have  a  realizing  sense  of 
their  responsibilities. 

Many  avenues  of  helpfulness  open  to  the  manu- 
facturer who  desires  to  deal  helpfully  and  gen- 
erously by  his  employees  are  closed  to  the  mer- 
chant, for  the  reason  that  the  employees  of  the 
latter  are  generally  widely  scattered  through  the 
city  in  which  the  mercantile  enterprise  is  located. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  employees  of  a  manufac- 
turing concern  usually  segregate  and  comprise  a 
distinct  community  of  their  own.  This  makes  it 
possible  for  the  manufacturer  to  build  halls, 
churches,  libraries,  schools,  gymnasiums,  theaters 
and  clubhouses  to  be  used  exclusively  by  the  men 
and  women  on  his  pay-roll.  The  merchant  can- 
not do  this  for  the  reason  that  his  employees  are 
dispersed  throughout  the  entire  city. 

This  difficulty,  however,  does  not  shut  out  the 
kindly  disposed  merchant  from  benefiting  and 
helping  his  employees.  There  are  many  things  he 
may  do  in  this  direction,  and  the  first  and  most 

89 


THE  MAKING   OF   A    MERCHANT 

important  one  is  that  of  consistently  following  a 
line  of  conduct  calculated  to  make  every  employee, 
from  the  least  to  the  greatest,  feel  that  so  long 
as  he  is  faithful  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties  and 
reasonably  competent  he  will  not  lose  his  place 
in  the  employ  of  the  house.  Nothing  in  the  world 
can  build  up  so  strong  a  sense  of  loyalty  and  devo- 
tion on  the  part  of  the  working  force  of  any  estab- 
lishment as  this  feeling.  Nor  will  any  amount 
of  fear,  discipline  or  driving  get  so  much  work 
and  as  good  work  out  of  employees  as  the  knowl- 
edge that  their  tenure  of  service  is  secure,  and  that 
in  misfortune  they  will  be  taken  care  of  in  a 
friendly  and  humane  manner.  This  feeling  will 
go  further  than  high  salaries — although  in  saying 
this  I  do  not  take  the  position  of  urging  it  as  a 
possible  subterfuge  by  which  the  payment  of  fair 
wages  may  be  avoided.  It  should  be  adopted  as 
a  business  rule  because  it  is  right,  and  it  will  be 
found  most  excellent  policy  when  pursued  from 
this  motive. 

The  best  capital  that  any  employer  can  have 
is  the  knowledge  and  appreciation  on  the  part  of 
his  employees  that  he  is  genuinely  and  sincerely 
interested  in  their  welfare;  that  he  really  cares  for 
them  and  their  prosperity.  This  applies  particularly, 
it  seems  to  me,  in  the  mercantile  business,  where 

90 


THE   MAKING   OF  A    MERCHANT 

a  very  large  proportion  of  the  men  are  salesmen, 
and  their  efficiency  dependent  to  a  sensitive  degree 
upon  their  feelings — their  loyalty,  energy,  and 
hope  of  substantial  appreciation  and  reward.  I 
have  never  found  any  way  of  accomplishing  this 
result  other  than  that  of  keeping  in  close  personal 
touch  with  the  entire  working  force  of  the  house. 
It  would  be  a  matter  of  sincere  regret  to  me  to 
learn  that  a  single  employee  of  my  establishment 
did  not  feel  and  understand  that  he  could  come 
to  me  in  any  personal  trouble  or  exigency  of  a 
serious  nature  and  be  cheerfully  granted  an 
audience,  and  that  the  boy  receiving  the  lowest 
wages  would  be  as  welcome  as  the  man  holding  a 
position  of  great  responsibility.  To  establish  this 
feeling  thoroughly  in  a  large  institution  may  cost 
many  hours  of  time;  but  my  experience  warrants 
the  statement  that  any  merchant  who  is  a  large 
employer  of  labor  will  find  time  thus  spent  the  most 
profitable  and  productive  that  his  calendar  records. 
The  knowledge  that  he  will  be  "taken  care  of" 
in  sickness  and  calamity  as  well  as  in  health  does 
more  to  keep  the  employee  steady  and  contented 
in  his  service  than  all  other  influences.  When  the 
man  knows  that  in  the  event  of  illness,  no  matter 
how  long  continued,  his  pay  will  be  cheerfully 
sent  him,  he  needs  no  argument  to  induce  him 


THE   MAKING  OF  A   MERCHANT 

to  remain  with  such  an  employer,  even  if  offered 
higher  salary  or  more  brilliant  inducements  else- 
where. And  if  the  employer  keeps  so  close  to  his 
men  that  he  is  able  to  visit  them  when  they  are 
sick  without  making  the  visit  a  palpable  and 
deliberate  display  of  patronage  and  condescension 
he  will  command  almost  unbounded  loyalty  from 
the  men  on  his  pay-roll. 

Another  powerful  stimulant  to  the  devotion  of 
employees  is  the  pension  system,  which  is  in  force 
in  mercantile  life  to  a  much  greater  extent  than 
is  generally  understood. 

The  value  to  a  great  commercial  establishment 
of  taking  care  of  its  employees,  of  showing  interest 
in  them,  of  stimulating  them  to  advancement,  and 
of  making  them  feel  secure  in  their  positions  has 
been  illustrated  by  some  notable  examples  of  those 
who  pursued  an  opposite  course.  One  of  the 
largest  mercantile  houses  in  the  country  adopted 
as  a  settled  policy  the  unwritten  law  that  when 
a  man  advanced  to  a  certain  degree  of  intimacy 
in  the  knowledge  of  larger  affairs  of  the  concern 
his  services  were  to  be  dispensed  with.  In  other 
words,  the  proprietor  determined  that  no  person 
besides  himself  should  have  a  grasp  of  the  busi- 
ness in  its  entirety.  As  soon  as  his  lieutenants 
acquired  what  he  regarded  as  a  dangerous  amount 

92 


THE   MAKING   OF  A    MERCHANT 

of  knowledge  he  discharged  them.  And  with  what 
result?  He  educated  men  for  high  places  in  the 
service  of  his  competitors  and  put  a  most  effectual 
damper  on  the  spirit  of  loyalty.  His  men  realized 
it  was  not  safe  for  them  to  "know  too  much." 
Because  of  his  strong  personality  and  his  genius 
for  finance  he  was  able  to  prosper  in  spite  of  this 
weakness  in  his  system;  but  the  instant  his  own 
hand  was  stricken  from  the  guidance  of  the  affairs 
of  his  house  the  spirit  of  his  own  distrust  of  his 
employees  swept  into  practical  wreck  the  great 
enterprise  which  he  had  builded.  There  seems  to 
be  little  reason  to  doubt  that  had  he  pursued  an 
opposite  policy,  and  put  a  premium  on  high  exec- 
utive ability  and  a  comprehensive  grasp  of  the 
business,  his  house  might  have  perpetuated  his 
name  for  several  generations  instead  of  dropping 
from  sight  with  almost  incredible  swiftness.  The 
great  cohesive  power  of  a  mercantile  establish- 
ment is  the  spirit  of  confidence  between  employer 
and  employee.  It  is  indeed  necessary  for  success. 
There  are  many  excellent  ways,  beside  those  I 
have  already  mentioned,  by  which  the  employing 
merchant  may  arouse  the  energies  and  inspire  the 
devotion  of  those  in  his  employ.  One  is  by  paying 
salaries  that  are  admittedly  large.  In  the  trade, 
service  in  such  a  house  is  regarded  as  a  prize  to 

93 


THE   MAKING   OF   A    MERCHANT 

be  vigorously  sought.  The  assigning  of  a  direct 
interest  in  the  house  is  another  effective  way  in 
which  to  reward  what  in  military  terms  would  be 
classed  as  "distinguished  service." 

I  am  familiar  with  an  incident  of  this  kind 
wherein  the  proprietor  of  an  extensive  business 
wished  to  make  one  of  his  principal  employees  an 
actual  shareholder.  The  young  man  had  no  capital 
to  invest,  and  could  not  well  spare  anything  from 
his  current  earnings  for  an  investment.  He  was 
charged  on  the  books  of  the  concern  with  fifteen 
thousand  dollars  in  cash  and  credited  with  that 
amount  of  capital.  Of  course,  he  was  also  charged 
interest  at  the  rate  of  six  per  cent.  Against  this 
was  a  credit  of  profits  or  earnings  of  twenty  per 
cent.  This  made  a  net  balance  in  the  young  man's 
favor  of  $2,100,  which  was  applied  on  the  charge 
of  his  capital  of  $15,000.  The  years  in  which  this 
snug  capital  was  paying  for  itself  passed  so  quickly 
that  the  happy  young  man  was  scarcely  aware  of 
their  flight.  The  fund  not  only  exerted  a  strong 
influence  on  the  young  man,  but  on  other  em- 
ployees of  the  establishment. 

The  method  of  bestowing  a  working  interest  is 
probably  familiar  to  all.  It  consists  of  what  to 
all  intents  and  purposes  is  the  bestowal  of  a 
fictitious  interest  in  the  business.  The  favored 

94 


THE   MAKING   OF  A    MERCHANT 

employee  is  credited  with  a  certain  percentage  of 
the  net  profits  for  the  year — this  in  addition  to  a 
salary  sufficient  for  living  expenses.  It  does  not 
matter  so  much  in  what  form  the  employer  makes 
this  award  to  special  worthiness,  so  long  as  he 
makes  it  and  his  employees  know  that  it  is  to  be 
made  from  time  to  time.  In  truth  and  in  fact, 
the  interests  of  the  employer  and  employed  are 
mutual,  and  everything  which  goes  to  make  this 
more  apparent  is  to  be  welcomed. 


95 


CHAPTER  VII 
THE  DEPARTMENT   STORE 

FEW  modern  marvels  surpass  in  interest  the 
great  department  store.  Certainly  this  is  so 
for  the  man  of  commercial  tastes  and  pursuits,  and 
I  cannot  doubt  that,  in  possibly  a  lesser  degree,  it  is 
so  for  the  great  mass  of  the  American  people.  Per- 
haps there  are  other  developments  of  twentieth  cen- 
tury progress  better  adapted  to  stand  as  types  of  the 
age;  but  it  must  be  granted  that  the  department 
store  is  distinctly  a  latter-day  institution  which  is 
clearly  representative  of  conspicuous  elements  and 
tendencies  in  the  life  of  the  present  hour.  It  stands 
for  centralization,  for  relentless  commercial  utility 
as  opposed  to  craft  sentiment,  for  economy  of  opera- 
tion and  conservation  of  energy,  for  comprehensive- 
ness and  completeness,  for  quickness,  accuracy  and 
system.  All  these  are  certainly  twentieth  century 
traits,  and  all  of  them  find  high  development  and 
picturesque  expression  in  the  great  metropolitan 
department  store. 

No  man  in  mercantile  life  can  afford  to  pass  over 
96 


THE   MAKING   OF   A    MERCHANT 

the  department  store  and  its  problems  because  he 
may  not  chance  to  be  identified  with  an  institution 
of  this  kind.  Sooner  or  later  he  will  find  that  the 
growth  and  development  of  these  monster  retail 
establishments  will  directly  and  vitally  affect  his 
interests,  whether  he  is  a  manufacturer,  is  in  the 
wholesale  business,  is  running  an  exclusive  line"  of 
retail  trade,  or  is  a  small  shopkeeper.  He  cannot 
keep  out  of  the  zone  of  influence  exerted  by  this 
retail  giant.  His  only  wise  course,  therefore,  is 
to  study  the  youthful  Goliath. 

Although  the  history  of  the  modern  metropolitan 
department  store  is  not  a  long  one,  the  phases  of 
its  development  are  not  altogether  clear  in  the  minds 
of  all  who  have  special  interest  in  the  subject. 
There  are  differences  of  opinion  among  those  who 
have  some  claim  as  authorities.  In  this  absence 
of  compelling  and  absolute  proof  I  shall  state  my 
own  observations  and  impressions  without  any 
assumption  of  dogmatic  rights  or  privileges. 

Some  hold  that  the  dry  goods  store  is  to  be 
regarded  as  the  germ  from  which  the  department 
monster  has  developed  and  grown  so  great.  My 
own  impression  is  that  the  old-fashioned  "general 
store"  of  the  country  crossroads  must  be  regarded 
as  the  direct  forebear  of  the  big  and  comprehensive 
city  mart  where  almost  everything  is  retailed  under 

97 


THE   MAKING   OF   A   MERCHANT 

one  roof.  The  line  of  descent  and  the  family 
resemblance  seem  too  distinct  to  be  mistaken.  The 
keeper  of  the  crossroads  store  was,  generally  speak- 
ing, the  only  merchant  in  his  immediate  community, 
and  was  compelled  to  meet  the  commercial  needs 
of  his  neighbors  in  nearly  all  of  the  elemental  lines, 
no  matter  how  meagerly.  The  farmer's  family  came 
to  him  for  sugar,  for  calico,  for  men's  wear,  for 
axes  and  hoes,  for  schoolbooks,  tobacco — and  in 
the  old  days  for  rum  and  other  spirits.  He  was 
obliged  to  make  his  establishment  a  combination  of 
grocery,  dry  goods,  clothing,  hardware,  notion  and 
liquor  store  because  his  community  was  not  large 
enough  to  support  a  separate  mercantile  establish- 
ment for  each  of  these  branches  of  trade.  His 
customers  demanded  that  the  basic  articles  in  these 
lines  be  carried  for  their  accommodation. 

Then  came  the  period  of  specialization  which  has 
reached  its  strongest  development  in  the  cities.  A 
man  who  went  into  trade  gave  his  whole  energies 
to  one  of  these  subdivisions  of  retail  traffic.  But  it 
did  not  stop  there.  The  progressive  city  retailer 
next  took  one  single  stock  and  pushed  that  exclu- 
sively. The  shirt  store,  the  silk  store,  the  light 
hardware  store,  and  a  score  of  other  special-feature 
establishments  made  their  appearance.  Carried  to 
its  full  development,  this  era  of  specialization 

98 


THE   MAKING   OF   A   MERCHANT 

brought  about  a  condition  which  seemed  to  militate 
against  the  great  army  of  middle-class  shoppers  and 
traders,  those  who  must  economize  minutely  their 
time  as  well  as  their  money.  Their  trading  must 
be  done  carefully,  but  with  as  small  an  outlay  of 
time  as  possible.  Unlike  the  woman  of  fashion  with 
a  private  carriage  to  take  her  from  one  special  store 
to  another,  and  with  leisure  in  which  to  make  the 
selection  of  a  single  article  the  pleasure  or  excite- 
ment of  an  entire  forenoon,  the  housewife  from  the 
workingman's  home  perhaps  found  it  necessary  to 
make  her  purchases  for  the  entire  week  in  a  single 
afternoon.  This  was  done  with  great  difficulty 
when  a  family  shopping  trip  involved  the  absolute 
necessity  of  going  to  a  half  dozen  different  stores 
a  considerable  distance  from  each  other. 

Then  came  the  first  movement  in  the  direction  of 
centralization  of  stocks — not  because,  as  in  the  case 
of  the  little  rural  community,  there  were  too  few 
stores,  but  because  there  were  too  -many  scattered' 
special  stores.  It  is  not  to  be  understood,  however, 
that  this  consideration  of  convenience  was  the  sole 
influence  which  started  the  movement  toward  the 
metropolitan  department  store,  although  it  seems 
to  me  probably  the  main  one.  Of  almost  equal 
importance  was  the  consideration,  on  the  part  of 
the  department  merchant,  of  being  able  to  buy  and 

99 


THE   MAKING  OF  A   MERCHANT 

sell  goods  for  lower  prices  than  his  specializing 
competitors,  because  of  handling  them  in  enor- 
mously larger  quantities  and  buying  them  at  first 
hand  from  the  manufacturer.  Not  less  potent  a 
factor  in  the  evolution  of  the  department  store  has 
been  the  principle  of  buying  and  selling  for  spot 
cash.  The  relation  which  these  elements  have  held 
to  each  other  in  upbuilding  the  department  concern 
must  remain  problematical,  but  their  combination 
has  produced  results  the  magnitude  of  which  would 
have  staggered  the  credulity  of  the  wildest  com- 
mercial enthusiast  of  a  decade  or  two  ago  in  his 
most  untrammeled  forecast  of  the  possibilities  of 
retail  trade. 

According  to  my  best  information,  the  first  mer- 
cantile establishment  coming  clearly  under  the 
definition  of  a  department  store  established  in  this 
country  was  one  which  was  opened  in  Chicago  in 
the  fall  of  1875.  Its  first  home  was  an  insignificant, 
one-story  structure  with  a  frontage  of  sixteen  feet 
and  a  depth  of  eighty  feet.  Now  this  pioneer  depart- 
ment enterprise  occupies  a  building  having  fifteen 
and  one-half  acres  of  floor  space.  The  correctness 
of  the  logic  which  led  to  the  launching  of  this 
venture  was  demonstrated  by  an  immediate  success, 
which  brought  into  existence  similar  institutions 
which  have  grown  to  almost  incredible  proportions. 

IOO 


THE   MAKING   OF  A    MERCHANT 

An  important  step  in  the  evolution  of  the  depart- 
ment store  was  the  introduction  of  "odd-cent" 
prices.  This  was  instituted  at  the  very  outset  of  the 
movement,  while  the  marvel  of  being  able  to  buy 
dry  goods,  notions,  groceries,  hardware,  furniture, 
house-furnishings,  and  almost  every  other  staple 
article  of  retail  traffic  under  one  and  the  same  roof, 
was  still  fresh  in  the  public  mind. 

Before  then  "even-money"  prices  were  as  uni- 
versal as  in  the  more  remote  villages  of  the  South 
to-day,  where  it  is  almost  impossible  to  find  a  penny 
in  the  whole  community.  Of  course  this  departure 
was  at  first  looked  upon  as  picayunish  and  hair- 
splitting to  the  last  degree.  Some  time  was  required 
to  habituate  customers  to  this  odd-price  trade,  for 
the  more  sensitive  shoppers  were  more  than  half 
ashamed  to  receive  a  penny  in  change  after  making 
a  four-cent  or  a  nine-cent  purchase.  Soon,  how- 
ever, the  public  came  to  recognize  that  in  many 
instances  at  least  the  odd-cent  pieces  returned  in 
change  were  so  many  pennies  saved  from  the  price 
prevailing  for  the  same  articles  in  the  stores  still 
adhering  to  the  dignity  of  even-money  prices.  This 
practice  of  close  selling  was  a  natural  parallel  to 
that  of  the  close  buying  which  was  undeniably  a 
strong  factor  of  the  department  store  plan  of  action. 

While  it  is  not  clear  that  the  system  of  delivering 
101 


THE   MAKING   OF   A    MERCHANT 

goods  free  of  charge  was  introduced  by  the  depart- 
ment store,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  its  develop- 
ment to  its  present  proportions  was  greatly  hastened 
by  this  form  of  commercial  enterprise.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  fact  that  the  patron  could  have  the 
harvest  of  a  day's  shopping  promptly  and  without 
charge  put  inside  the  door  of  his  home  was  another 
strong  factor  in  attracting  trade  away  from  mer- 
chants of  the  special-stock  kind,  and  particularly 
from  the  smaller  shopkeepers  in  the  residence  dis- 
tricts outside  of  the  business  center  of  the  city. 
Then,  too,  the  department  stores  were  quick  to 
grasp  the  advantage  of  larger  liberality  in  the 
exchange  of  goods,  and  this  was  turned  to  their 
advantage.  It  is  not  to  be  inferred,  however,  that 
they  are  to-day  more  liberal  in  that  particular  than 
their  progressive  competitors  in  non-departmental 
merchandising.  So  far  as  that  is  concerned  honors 
are  probably  about  evenly  divided.  The  point  at 
issue,  however,  is  that  the  department  store  was 
pushing,  aggressive  and  always  ready  to  make  a 
radical  departure  if  it  promised  to  yield  profits  or 
attract  attention.  It  was  unhampered  by  the  tradi- 
tions of  the  craft  and  welcomed  anything  that 
carried  with  it  the  dash  of  enterprise. 

No  adequate  estimate  of  the  influence  and  ulti- 
mate development  of  the  department  store  can  be 

102 


THE   MAKING  OF  A    MERCHANT 

had  without  first  gaining  some  idea  of  the  scope  and 
magnitude  to  which  this  form  of  retail  enterprise 
has  already  been  brought.  After  arriving  at  a 
partial  understanding  of  the  present  stature  of  this 
Titan  of  modern  merchandising,  a  closer  estimate 
may  be  made  of  its  probable  ultimate  growth  and 
the  tendencies  which  it  is  most  likely  to  show  in  the 
future. 

•  If  the  counters  in  Chicago's  largest  store  of  this 
kind  were  placed  end  to  end  they  would  make  a 
causeway  six  miles  long.  Were  the  delivery  wagons 
and  teams  of  this  institution  drawn  up  in  marching 
order  they  would  completely  surround  an  entire  city 
square.  A  careful  estimate  of  the  number  of  per- 
sons entering  this  place  during  its  banner  day  of 
trade  is  225,000.  This  means,  roughly  speaking, 
that  the  crowd  which  passed  under  this  roof  on  a 
single  day's  traffic  more  than  equaled  the  entire 
population  of  Louisville,  Minneapolis  or  Jersey 
City.  The  average  force  of  employees  maintained 
by  an  institution  of  this  size  is  about  3,300,  but 
this  brigade  is  increased  to  4,000  to  meet  the 
demands  of  a  prosperous  holiday  trade. 

An  ingenious  and  interesting  method  of  placing 
the  magnitude  of  this  establishment  within  the  grasp 
of  the  reader  is  to  compare  its  trade  with  the  total 
retail  traffic  of  a  provincial  city  or  town.  A  com- 

103 


THE   MAKING   OF  A   MERCHANT 

parison  of  this  kind  indicates  that,  according  to  the 
normal  distribution  of  trade,  the  business  transacted 
by  the  largest  department  store  of  the  West  would 
equal  all  the  retail  traffic  done  by  a  city  of  about 
80,000  inhabitants. 

Another  way  of  bringing  the  bigness  of  the 
department  store  within  the  realization  of  the  reader 
is  by  reference  to  the  size  of  its  purchases.  One 
store  in  Chicago  bought  in  one  bill  a  stock  of  granite 
kitchen  ware  which  filled  seventeen  cars  that  were 
made  up  into  a  special  train.  Another  of  these 
great  institutions  bought  a  train-load  of  shirt-waists 
on  a  single  order.  It  is  not  unusual  for  any  of  these 
great  concerns  to  place  a  single  import  order  for 
$50,000  worth  of  goods,  and  often  this  is  far 
exceeded. 

One  Chicago  department  store  in  the  past  year 
made  almost  four  million  deliveries.  The  number 
of  packages  of  merchandise  thus  handled  would 
probably  triple  this  figure,  as  comparatively  few 
patrons  purchase  a  single  article  at  one  time,  while 
many  a  suburban  delivery  wagon  leaves  a  score  of 
parcels  at  a  house  at  the  same  time. 

To  accomplish  this  task  of  distributing  the  mer- 
chandise sold  and  not  taken  from  the  store  by  the 
hand  of  the  purchaser  requires  a  steady  force  of 
about  one  hundred  double  wagons  and  forty  single, 

104 


THE   MAKING  OF  A   MERCHANT 

and  four  hundred  horses.  This  delivery  contingent 
is  materially  increased  during  the  days  of  holiday 
traffic,  when  a  cavalcade  of  heavy  "bulk  wagons" 
and  drays,  owned  by  private  teamsters,  is  employed. 
Each  wagon  has  a  driver  and  a  delivery  boy,  and 
those  traveling  in  the  more  thinly  populated  districts 
have  an  extra  boy  to  facilitate  the  process  of 
distribution. 

In  almost  any  line  of  staple  goods  the  volume 
of  a  day's  sales  in  a  metropolitan  department  store 
is  well  calculated  to  test  the  credulity  of  the  unini- 
tiated. Think  of  retailing  more  than  twenty  tons 
of  sugar  in  one  "dept."  in  a  single  day.  This 
record,  however,  has  been  made  and  the  sales  were 
mainly  in  "dollar  lots."  The  physical  task  of 
handling  and  weighing  up  this  quantity  of  sugar  in 
comparatively  small  packages  is  tiresome  to  con- 
template, and  it  would  have  been  scarcely  possible 
had  it  not  been  for  the  great  automatic  scales  with 
which  the  sugar  department  is  equipped.  Suppose 
the  rate  at  which  this  staple  is  retailed  to  be  nineteen 
pounds  for  a  dollar.  The  scales  are  adjusted  at 
that  weight.  The  clerk  presses  a  button  and  a 
volume  of  sugar  weighing  exactly  nineteen  pounds 
is  dropped  into  a  paper  bag  below  the  spout  leading 
from  the  hopper.  When  the  grocery  department 
of  a  big  store  like  the  leading  ones  of  New  York 

105 


THE   MAKING   OF   A    MERCHANT 

and  Chicago  institute  a  special  sale  of  hams  it  is 
not  unusual  to  dispose  of  5,000  of  them  in  a  day. 

Many  articles  entirely  unknown  to  the  traffic  of 
the  larger  stores  of  a  provincial  city  are  handled 
by  these  monster  department  establishments  in  sur- 
prising quantities.  Take  the  sprightly  article  of 
live  frogs  as  an  example  of  this  phase  of  trade  in 
lines  not  thought  of  by  the  average  person.  Over 
the  counter  of  a  Chicago  department  store  three 
thousand  dozen  of  these  creatures  were  sold  in  one 
day  for  "live  bait." 

Occasionally,  however,  department  managers  find 
a  limit  to  their  enterprise.  While  there  is,  appar- 
ently, scarcely  a  limit  to  that  which  they  are  willing 
to  attempt  in  order  to  attract  the  public,  their  plans 
sometimes  come  to  grief.  On  one  occasion  the 
manager  of  the  house-furnishing  department  in  one 
of  the  stores  came  to  the  conclusion  that  his  stock 
would  be  incomplete  without  a  full  line  of  domestic 
pets.  He  therefore  bought  a  varied  assortment  of 
song  birds,  parrots,  Guinea  pigs,  house  dogs  and 
monkeys.  The  simians  were  his  special  pride,  as 
they  attracted  large  crowds  of  delighted  children 
and  amused  parents.  The  department  zoo  seemed 
an  unqualified  success  until  it  began  to  attract  as 
many  rats  as  are  said  to  have  followed  the  Pied 
Piper  of  Hamelin.  How  to  check  this  pest  was  a 

106 


THE  MAKING  OF  A   MERCHANT 

serious  problem,  but  the  manager  of  the  department 
thought  he  was  able  to  meet  the  difficulty.  From 
his  home  he  brought  a  pet  bulldog  which  had  a 
record  as  an  intrepid  ratter.  The  animal  was  tied 
to  the  leg  of  a  bench  and  left  to  stand  guard  against 
the  army  of  invading  rodents  at  night.  Full  of 
confidence  in  his  pet,  the  manager  entered  the  store 
in  the  morning.  The  dog  was  there  with  the  fire 
of  triumph  in  his  eye,  but  his  tether  was  broken. 
Beside  him  were  four  dead  monkeys,  two  parrots 
and  several  other  birds.  Although  the  manager's 
pride  in  his  dog  was  not  decreased,  his  faith  in  the 
practicability  of  a  department  store  menagerie  was 
gone. 

There  seems  to  be  a  strong  consensus  of  opinion 
among  the  men  at  the  head  of  these  great  retail 
enterprises  that  the  department  store  has  well-nigh 
reached  the  limits  of  expansion  so  far  as  the  variety 
of  merchandise  is  concerned,  and  that  the  main 
problem  now  is  that  of  better  service. 


107 


CHAPTER   VIII 
MANAGEMENT   OF   DEPARTMENT    STORES 

WITHOUT  a  high  state  of  organization  the 
modern  department  store  would  be  impos- 
sible. In  these  institutions  business  system  is  re- 
duced to  almost  automatic  precision.  The  smallest 
details  as  well  as  matters  of  the  largest  moment 
move  with  mechanical  exactness  and  in  accordance 
with  a  well  ordered  and  clearly  defined  routine.  In 
the  government  of  a  large  force  of  employees  not 
only  is  thorough  system  absolutely  necessary  to 
secure  results,  but  that  system  must  be  simple  and 
direct  in  its  structure  and  operation.  Especially 
must  its  points  of  executive  responsibility  be  so 
clearly  apparent  that  none  shall  fail  instantly  to 
understand  who  are  the  persons  in  authority  in  the 
main  divisions  of  the  establishment. 

Though  each  concern  has  its  own  distinctive 
points  of  individuality,  the  general  plan  of  organiza- 
tion followed  by  these  great  commercial  houses  is 
comparatively  uniform.  As  with  all  successful 
enterprises  of  large  proportions,  there  must  be  one 

108 


THE   MAKING   OF   A    MERCHANT 

point  or  personality  in  which  executive  power 
centralizes,  one  master  mind  which  directs  and 
governs  and  makes  the  policy  of  the  concern.  He 
may  be  its  individual  proprietor,  its  president  secre- 
tary, treasurer  or  other  official.  Often  this  per- 
sonage, who  is  the  moving  power  of  the  whole  enter- 
prise, does  not  spend  an  hour  a  day  in  the  store, 
but  his  individuality  permeates  the  whole  organiza- 
tion and  makes  itself  felt  in  every  department. 

Under  the  actual  head  of  the  enterprise  is  the 
general  in  direct  and  active  command,  the  General 
Manager.  Though  he  has,  as  a  rule,  a  broad  over- 
sight of  all  the  interests  of  the  establishment,  he 
gives  his  main  attention  to  the  merchandising  end 
of  affairs,  leaving  the  hiring,  discipline  and  dis- 
charge of  employees  to  the  General  Superintendent. 
Each  of  these  general  officials  has  his  immediate 
assistant,  who  acts  for  him  in  his  absence  and  carries 
on  certain  lines  of  supervision  all  the  time. 

Next  under  the  Assistant  General  Manager  are 
the  "departjnejit^heads,"  or  "buyers."  These  titles 
are  synonymous,  as  the  head  of  each  department 
must  do  the  buying  for  his  "store."  This,  in  fact, 
is  his  principal  duty,  and  upon  the  skill  and  shrewd- 
ness with  which  he  makes  his  purchases  depends, 
in  very  large  measure,  the  success  of  his  depart- 
ment— for  goods  that  are  not  properly  bought  can- 

109 


THE   MAKING   OF   A    MERCHANT 

not  be  profitably  sold.  A  man  may  be  never  so 
good  a  salesman,  but  if  he  has  stocked  up  with  poor 
goods  or  has  paid  too  much  money  for  his  stock, 
competition  in  this  day  is  so  sharp  that  he  cannot 
overcome  the  inertia  of  bad  buying  and  must  sooner 
or  later  drop  out  of  the  race.  Goods  may,  however, 
be  so  successfully  bought  that  they  will  "sell  them- 
selves" the  moment  the  public  knows  their  price. 

Ordinarily  the  buyer  is  supreme  in  his  depart- 
ment. His  position  is  that  of  a  man  who  is  con- 
ducting an  individual  store  for  an  outside  proprietor. 
Almost  complete  latitude  is  allowed  him  in  which 
to  exercise  his  own  judgment.  He  is  held  account- 
able for  results  and  for  results  only.  If  his  depart- 
ment does  not  yield  its  proper  proportion  of  the 
profits  of  the  total  establishment  he  must  show  good 
cause  for  this  deficiency  or  make  way  for  another 
man. 

Each  buyer  has  an  assistant  who  is  supposed  to 
be  capable  of  taking  his  chiefs  place  in  all  particu- 
lars. Naturally,  a  buyer  is  often  absent  from  the 
store.  Many  of  them  are  required  to  make  frequent 
trips  to  Europe  and  all  must  go  about  the  country 
to  a  large  extent.  This  leaves  the  assistant  as  a 
resident  buyer  and  manager  of  the  department. 
Under  this  assistant  are  "jieads^of^stock,"  or  those 
having  charge  of  a  particular  stock  of  goods.  Let 

no 


THE    MAKING   OF    A    MERCHANT 

the  jewelry  department  be  taken  as  an  example  of 
this  subdivision.  Here  some  of  the  main  stocks  are 
watches,  rings  and  novelties.  In  each  of  these  divi- 
sions are  several  clerks  under  the  direct  and  personal 
supervision  of  the  "head  of  stock,"  who,  in  addition 
to  his  oversight  of  the  goods  and  the  clerks,  also 
waits  upon  customers.  From  the  ranks  of  the  heads 
of  stock  the  assistant  buyers  are  generally  selected. 
One  of  the  few  times  when  a  buyer  must  consult 
the  General  Manager  or  the  latter's  assistant  is 
when  he  believes  it  advisable  to  exceed  his  limit 
in  the  amount  of  goods  to  be  bought  for  a  season's 
trade.  These  limits  are  given  the  buyers  before  they 
start  out  to  get  goods  for  their  spring  and  fall  trade. 
Before  the  General  Manager  sets  his  stakes  for  the 
various  departments  he  strives  to  take  into  con- 
sideration every  condition  having  a  possible  bearing 
upon  the  trade  of  the  particular  department  under 
discussion.  First  of  all  he  strives  to  get  a  broad 
view  of  national  financial  conditions;  then  he 
attempts  to  analyze  local  financial  prospects,  the 
tightness  or  looseness  of  the  money  market,  the 
prosperity  of  the  farming  community,  and  every 
other  element  that  affects  the  monetary  situation  in 
a  big  way.  Next  he  must  be  quick  to  anticipate 
changes  and  whims  in  fashion  and  public  taste.  He 
must  study  fads  with  seriousness. 

in 


THE   MAKING   OF   A    MERCHANT 

After  the  General  Manager  has  weighed  all  these 
things  he  says  to  each  buyer:  "You  may  spend  so 
many  dollars  for  your  department  this  season." 
Often,  later  in  the  season,  a  department  manager 
finds  an  unexpected  demand  for  his  line  of  goods, 
or  he  believes  that  a  wave  of  public  favor  is  sweep- 
ing in  his  direction,  and  that,  if  he  is  prepared  for 
it,  he  may  get  the  start  of  some  less  discerning 
competitor.  To  do  this,  however,  incurs  risk  and 
the  expenditure  of  more  money  than  his  limit  stipu- 
lated. Then  he  must  go  to  the  General  Manager 
and  plead  his  case. 

According  to  general  practice  each  buyer  holds 
a  fortnightly  conference  with  the  General  Manager 
and  outlines  the  needs  of  his  department  for  the 
next  two  weeks,  besides 'placing  before  his  superior 
all  the  information  necessary  to  give  the  latter  a 
clear,  concise  and  comprehensive  grasp  of  its  condi- 
tion on  every  score.  Some  of  these  monster  retail 
establishments  hold  a  regular  monthly  council  of 
department  heads.  On  these  occasions  the  General 
Manager  presides  and  brings  up  for  discussion  all 
topics  of  broad  interest.  If  one  manager  believes 
that  his  particular  department  is  not  having  a  fair 
show,  he  is  permitted  to  debate  his  position  in  open 
meeting.  These  councils  are  attended  by  from 
twenty-five  to  fifty  men. 

112 


THE  MAKING  OF  A   MERCHANT 

It  is  not  to  be  understood,  however,  that  the 
General  Manager  must  wait  for  the  regular  fort- 
nightly or  monthly  report  of  his  department  chiefs 
to  know  precisely  where  he  stands.  Every  buyer 
keeps  a  set  of  books  and  must  be  able  to  indicate, 
at  any  time,  exactly  the  condition  of  affairs  in  his 
charge.  This  means  that  his  written  report  shall 
show  how  many  goods  in  each  separate  stock  he 
had  at  the  beginning  of  the  month,  how  many  have 
been  sold  therefrom,  what  has  been  the  gross  profit 
on  them,  what  goods  have  been  bought  and  what 
received,  the  amount  of  his  unpaid  bills  and  the 
extent  of  his  salary  list.  He  must  also  be  able  to 
specify,  at  a  moment's  notice,  the  goods  in  each 
section  or  subdivision  of  a  stock.  In  short,  the  Gen- 
eral Manager  is  able,  any  day,  to  secure  a  bird's-eye 
view  of  the  status  of  his  entire  establishment.  From 
this  it  is  not  to  be  inferred  that  the  General  Manager 
or  his  assistant  is  content  to  learn  the  condition 
of  his  concern  solely  by  figures  or  information  on 
paper.  He  has  not  a  more  important  duty  than  to 
know  that  the  goods  in  the  house  are  right  and 
that  they  are  handled  at  the  right  prices.  When 
other  matters  are  not  imperatively  demanding  his 
attention  he  is  going  about  from  department  to 
department  looking  after  the  quality  and  prices  of 
goods. 


THE   MAKING   OF   A    MERCHANT 

Every  buyer  presents  an  individual  problem  to  the 
General  Manager  and  his  assistant.  Some  are 
daring  and  have  a  tendency  to  indulge  in  fads  or 
hobbies,  while  others  are  inclined  to  keep  in  a 
beaten  rut.  Though  recklessness  is  never  a  safe 
business  element,  ultra-conservatism  is  distinctly  out 
of  place  in  a  department  store,  which  is  nothing  if 
not  dashing  in  its  methods.  A  venturesome  depart- 
ment manager  can  be  curbed  and  trained  to  keep 
within  reasonable  bounds,  but  the  timid  and  con- 
ventional buyer  cannot  be  supplied  with  push  and 
original  and  progressive  ideas. 

One  buyer  had  an  almost  abnormal  liking  for 
veilings.  They  seemed  to  fascinate  him,  and  he 
took  a  keen  personal  delight  in  pushing  this  partic- 
ular stock.  In  a  single  invoice  he  bought  twenty- 
five  cases  of  these  goods — about  5,000  pieces — and 
then  started  in  to  dispose  of  them.  Although  the 
General  Manager  recognized  that  this  was  a 
"hobby"  he  kept  his  own  council  and  prepared  to 
judge  the  buyer  by  results  only.  A  little  shop  was 
installed  on  a  workroom  floor  and  a  force  of  girls 
put  to  the  task  of  decorating  the  veils  with  chenille 
dots.  Then  came  a  big  bargain  sale  of  veilings — 
with  the  result  that  the  stock  was  quickly  disposed 
of  at  a  high  percentage  of  profit.  Not  all  hobbies 
prove  to  be  winning  ventures,  but  in  the  main  it 

114 


THE   MAKING   OF   A    MERCHANT 

may  be  said  that  the  special  enthusiasm  which  leads 
a  department  manager  to  buy  heavily  in  one  line 
of  goods  enables  him  to  push  that  line  with  the  extra 
energy  and  resourcefulness  which  bring  satisfactory 
results.  It  should  also  be  remembered  that  because 
a  certain  stock  of  goods  is  "normal"  at  $50,000 
this  year  it  will  not  be  high  next  year  at  $80,000. 
Take  the  matter  of  furs  as  an  example.  Here  is 
a  variable  quantity  governed  almost  wholly  by  the 
whims  of  fashion.  Laces,  also,  may  be  worn  almost 
universally  one  year,  and  the  next  be  in  compar- 
atively slight  demand. 

Thus  far  I  have  spoken  only  of  the  manner  in 
which  the  General  Manager  keeps  himself  informed 
regarding  the  purchase  and  sale  of  goods.  The 
intermediate  step,  how  they  are  received  and 
installed,  is  not  without  interest.  All  bills  are  sent 
\to  the  office  of  the  chief  executive,  where  they  are 
stamped  with  a  blank  form.  Then  they  go  to  the 
basement  receiving-room  where  the  goods  are 
opened  by  porters.  In  the  blank  stamped  on  the 
bill  the  receiving  clerk  enters  the  quantity,  and  the 
number  of  the  "store"  to  which  the  goods  belong, 
and  signs  his  name,  also  marking  on  the  goods  the 
quantity  and  the  cost  price.  Next  the  buyer  is 
summoned  and  he  makes  a  careful  inspection  to 
see  that  the  price  is  according  to  agreement  and 

"5 


THE   MAKING   OF   A    MERCHANT 

that  the  quality  is  "up  to  sample."  He  enters  in 
the  blank  the  terms  regulating  the  payment  of  the 
bill  and  signs  his  name.  The  goods  then  go  to  the 
counters  of  the  department  or  to  its  reserve  stock 
on  a  storage  floor. 

All  the  bills  thus  checked  up  in  the  receiving-room 
in  a  day  are  placed  on  an  office  file  and  sent  to  the 
desk  of  the  General  Manager  or  his  assistant. 
After  the  "O  K"  of  one  of  the  chief  officials  of  the 
merchandising  department  has  been  placed  on  all  the 
invoices  they  are  sent  to  the  "department  office," 
where  they  are  charged  to  the  various  "stores" 
according  to  their  respective  numbers.  Next  the 
bills  are  passed  to  the  office  of  the  head  bookkeeper, 
who  credits  the  selling  firms  with  the  amounts. 
Upon  the  treasurer's  department  falls  the  responsi- 
bility of  seeing  that  these  bills  are  paid  at  such  time 
as  will  secure  the  greatest  advantage  in  the  matter 
of  discounts. 

No  detail  of  department  management  calls  for 
more  careful  watching  than  does  the  want  record. 
Each  counter  is  furnished  with  a  tab  of  want  slips, 
and  all  clerks  are  under  strict  instructions  to  fill 
out  one  of  these  blanks  for  each  article  that  is  called 
for  and  not  found  in  stock.  Also  they  are  required 
similarly  to  note  the  approaching  depletion  of  the 
stock  of  any  article  regularly  carried.  Incessantly 

116 


THE  MAKING  OF  A   MERCHANT 

the  lesson  is  enforced  and  reiterated:  Have  what 
the  people  want,  and  have  it  when  they  want  it. 

It  is  not  good  business  judgment  to  accept  the 
evidence  of  the  "want  report"  without  question  or 
careful  analysis.  The  buyer  and  the  General  Man- 
ager must  always  keep  close  watch  for  the  signs 
of  a  forced  and  fictitious  demand  instigated  by 
jobbers  and  manufacturers  who  think  they  are 
laying  the  foundation  for  a  good  order  from  the 
house.  In  the  earlier  days  of  the  department  store 
there  was  a  far  more  general  attempt  to  operate 
the  scheme  of  fictitious  calls  for  new  lines  of  goods 
than  at  present. 

"Have  you  the  X corset?"  asks  the  sub- 
sidized shopper,  with  a  manner  which  implies  that 
the  question  is  in  the  nature  of  a  mere  formality. 
She  is  moderately  surprised  when  told  what  she 
already  knows — that  they  are  not  in  stock.  If  the 
woman  is  a  skillful  "missionary"  she  only  drops 
a  word  or  two  in  explanation  of  her  preference  for 
that  particular  make  and  says  she  will  look  else- 
where. This  call  is  repeated  by  others  until,  per- 
haps, the  buyer  becomes  convinced  there  is  a  legiti- 
mate but  limited  demand  for  the  article.  Then  he 
places  a  test  order,  being  careful  to  make  the  quan- 
tity neither  too  large  nor  too  small.  In  the  former 
event,  provided  the  demand  were  fictitious,  the  man- 

117 


THE   MAKING   OF   A    MERCHANT 

ager  would  be  satisfied  with  his  success  and  there 
would  be  no  further  call.  If,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  quantity  ordered  were  very  small  it  would  be 
an  easy  matter  for  the  manufacturer  to  send  out 
quite  a  force  of  missionaries  and  buy  all  the  goods 
of  his  make  in  the  store,  feeling  sure  of  recouping 
himself  by  a  large  order  as  a  result  of  so  brisk  a 
trade. 

So  high  a  state  of  development  has  been  reached 
by  the  modern  department  store  that  the  addition  of 
new  departments  is  mainly  a  matter  of  space.  On 
the  other  hand,  however,  the  progressive  proprietor 
is  always  keenly  alert  to  keep  pace  with  public 
demand. 

Some  departments,  however,  are  introduced 
merely  for  the  accommodation  of  patrons  and  not 
because  they  yield  any  direct  profits.  The  baby 
nursery  is  an  excellent  example.  "Where  can  I 
leave  my  baby  while  doing  my  shopping?"  was 
a  question  which  was  put  to  floor-walkers,  clerks 
and  the  matron  of  the  waiting-room  so  continuously 
that  the  necessity  of  a  provision  for  the  temporary 
care  of  infants  was  impressed  upon  the  manage- 
ment. Now  nearly  every  large  department  store 
has  a  baby-room  in  charge  of  a  competent  nurse. 
This  cosy  apartment  is  generally  an  annex  to  the 
ladies'  waiting-room,  and  is  furnished  with  cribs, 

118 


THE   MAKING  OF  A    MERCHANT 

cradles  and  rocking-chairs,  and  with  a  tempting 
stock  of  toys.  In  some  establishments  the  nursery 
is  so  elaborate  as  to  reach  the  proportions  of  a 
kindergarten  school.  Experience,  however,  has 
taught  the  undesirability  of  making  the  entertain- 
ment too  attractive.  In  at  least  one  large  Chicago 
house  it  was  found  that  some  mothers  did  not 
hesitate  to  make  the  playroom  accommodations  the 
means  of  giving  them  a  half  holiday  without  the 
expense  of  providing  nursemaids  for  their  children. 
This  experiment  led  to  the  discontinuance  of  the 
playroom  and  the  substitution  of  a  baby  nursery  of 
the  simplest  kind.  The  liability  of  having  little 
foundlings  permanently  left  in  their  charge  has 
caused  the  managers  of  department  stores  to  pro- 
vide for  the  exercise  of  great  caution  on  the  part 
of  nurses  in  charge  of  baby-rooms.  As  a  rule, 
infants  under  six  months  of  age  are  not  received 
except  in  instances  where  the  mothers  are  known 
to  be  regular  customers  of  the  establishment.  Under 
all  circumstances  the  mother  leaving  a  child  in 
charge  of  a  nurse  is  required  to  give  her  name, 
and  generally  her  home  address,  and  to  state  the 
departments  in  which  she  expects  to  do  her  trading. 
Some  stores  follow  the  practice  of  requiring  a 
mother  whose  child  has  been  left  with  the  nurse 
to  report  to  the  baby-room  within  one  hour,  and 

119 


THE   MAKING   OF   A    MERCHANT 

in  case  of  a  failure  to  do  this  she  is  summoned  by 
an  attendant. 

Some  department  stores  keep  a  house  physician 
for  the  treatment  of  employees  and  patrons  who 
may  require  his  service  in  case  of  emergency.  His 
office  is  equipped  with  appointments  for  the  proper 
care  of  those  who  are  suddenly  overtaken  by 
illness. 

With  regard  to  the  future  development  of  new 
departments  it  should  be  said  that  the  general  tend- 
ency appears  to  be  to  discourage  the  invasion  of  the 
professional  field.  Only  one  Chicago  department 
store  has  a  dental  office  or  a  savings  bank,  for 
example,  and  these  are  both  independent  institutions 
admitted  on  a  percentage  basis.  Few  department 
stores,  it  should  also  be  observed,  deal  in  spirituous 
liquors,  even  those  for  table  use. 

A  General  Manager  made  this  comment  on  the 
scope  of  department  store  traffic : 

"I  am  told  that  a  big  department  store  in  London 
will  accept  an  order  for  a  live  elephant,  and  will 
take  charge  of  a  funeral,  furnishing  all  the  necessary 
appointments,  from  coffin  to  carriages  and  gloves. 
This  is  going  altogether  beyond  the  limits  of  the 
traffic  in  America,  and  in  my  opinion  passes  the 
bounds  of  good  business  judgment.  We  furnish 
our  patrons  with  an  opportunity  to  deposit  their 

1 20 


THE   MAKING   OF   A   MERCHANT 

savings,  to  have  their  photographs  taken,  and  to 
receive  the  services  of  a  physician  in  case  of  an 
emergency;  but  we  draw  the  line  at  elephants  and 
funerals !" 

In  a  vast  establishment  employing  thousands  of 
workers  who  are  necessarily  governed  by  a  rigid 
and  exacting  system  there  would  seem  to  be  little 
opportunity  for  the  display  of  the  humanities  of 
life,  and  yet  in  this  particular  the  stranger  is  likely 
to  meet  a  pleasant  surprise.  Comparatively  few 
persons  would  expect  to  find  a  well-conducted 
schoolroom  in  the  heart  of  one  of  these  great  com- 
mercial hives,  yet  if  there  is  a  large  department 
store  in  this  country  which  does  not  regularly  main- 
tain, at  its  own  expense,  a  school  for  the  instruction 
of  its  younger  employees,  it  is  certainly  behind  its 
competitors,  for  the  practice  is  general.  The  scope 
of  these  schools,  and  the  lines  upon  which  they  are 
conducted,  are  somewhat  varied,  but  all  give  instruc- 
tion in  the  elementary  branches  taught  in  the  com- 
mon schools.  These  studies  include  arithmetic, 
spelling,  geography,  grammar  or  language,  and 
even  one  or  two  more  advanced  branches.  In  one 
Chicago  department  store  instruction  is  given  only 
to  cash  girls  and  "wrappers,"  not  to  clerks.  Of 
these  there  are  three  hundred  in  the  employ  of  the 
house,  and  they  are  divided  into  classes  of  from 

121 


THE   MAKING  OF  A   MERCHANT 

eighty  to  one  hundred.  Each  class  is  given  instruc- 
tion for  one  month,  and  from  eight  to  ten  o'clock 
in  the  morning.  At  the  end  of  the  month  another 
class  is  installed,  and  so  on  until  the  round  has 
been  made  of  all  who  are  eligible  to  admission. 
Then  the  first  class  comes  in  for  its  second  term 
and  the  circuit  is  again  made. 

Another  store  does  not  exclude  clerks  from  its 
classroom  and  does  not  draw  the  limit  at  any  partic- 
ular age,  but  admits  all  of  its  employees  who  feel 
themselves  deficient  in  school  training  and  wish  to 
make  up  their  lack  in  this  direction.  The  sessions 
of  this  school  are  from  half-past  eight  in  the 
morning  until  eleven,  and  its  enrollment  seldom 
falls  below  two  hundred.  It  is  estimated  that  all 
the  employees  of  this  institution  who  come  within 
its  school  classification  average  three  months' 
instruction  in  the  course  of  a  year. 

There  is  no  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  manage- 
ment of  department  stores  to  give  the  impression 
that  these  schools  are  philanthropic  enterprises.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  is  frankly  confessed  that  they 
are  maintained  for  the  selfish  purpose  of  increasing 
the  service-value  of  their  employees  and  that  they 
undeniably  yield  a  profit  to  the  establishments  by 
which  they  are  supported.  A  cardinal  duty  of  the 
school-teacher  is  to  obtain  a  fair  knowledge  of  the 

122 


THE  MAKING  OF  A   MERCHANT 

mental  capacity  and  personal  traits  of  each  pupil 
and  to  make  these  observations  a  matter  of  record. 
In  fact,  the  schoolmistress  is  regarded  as  one  of  the 
chief  aids  of  the  superintendent,  who  relies  upon 
her  for  an  intimate  knowledge  of  the  younger  em- 
ployees, from  among  whom  he  must  eventually 
select  those  to  be  promoted  to  more  responsible 
positions.  Then,  too,  the  teacher  of  the  department 
store  school  is  relied  upon  to  weed  out  the  stupid 
and  the  dull  who,  after  patient  instruction  and 
attention,  fail  to  show  promise  of  developing  into 
reasonably  bright  workers.  Many  of  the  children 
who  are  received  into  the  big  department  store 
would  remain  almost  wholly  devoid  of  school 
training  were  it  not  for  the  classroom  of  the 
establishment. 

Though  the  "bargain  sale"  is  by  no  means  exclu- 
sively a  department  store  institution,  these  great 
cosmopolitan  retail  establishments  have  pushed  this 
means  of  trade-getting  to  so  high  a  state  of  develop- 
ment that  it  is  inseparably  associated  with  them  in 
the  public  thought.  The  process  of  preparing  for 
a  bargain  sale  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  which 
takes  place  in  the  department  store,  and  illustrates, 
perhaps  better  than  anything  else,  the  remarkable 
system  and  precision  with  which  the  affairs  of  these 
mammoth  enterprises  are  conducted.  The  chief  of 

123 


THE   MAKING   OF  A    MERCHANT 

the  advertising  department  is  necessarily  in  close 
and  constant  touch  with  the  merchandising  exec- 
utive of  the  house,  and  ranks  as  one  of  the  principal 
aides  on  the  latter's  staff.  He  is,  too,  a  man  of  large 
individual  authority,  and  upon  his  energy  and  judg- 
ment depends,  in  large  measure,  the  success  of  the 
establishment  so  far  as  the  volume  of  its  sales  is 
concerned. 

Monday  is  bargain  day  throughout  the  entire 
country.  So,  for  that  matter,  is  Friday,  but  the 
popularity  of  the  Sunday  newspaper  in  the  United 
States  has  placed  the  emphasis  upon  Monday. 

Not  later  than  Thursday  morning  the  advertising 
chief  visits  the  various  departments  of  the  store  and 
holds  careful  consultation  with  the  men  in  charge  of 
them.  Each  department  chief  is  consulted  indi- 
vidually. The  advertising  manager  carefully  con- 
siders the  list  of  goods  recommended  by  the  head 
~,  of  the  department,  and  together  they  select  for  the 
bargain  sale  the  articles  of  first  rank  in  "drawing" 
power.  Seasonableness,  novelty,  unusually  low  cost, 
overstock  and  various  other  elements  enter  into  the 
calculation  by  which  they  make  their  choice  of  the 
special  lines  to  be  offered  at  bargain-sale  prices. 
These  selections  are  entered  on  a  blank,  the  columns 
of  which  bear  the  headings  "Cost,"  "Present  Sell- 
ing Price,"  "Advertised  Price,"  "Remarks." 

124 


THE  MAKING  OF  A   MERCHANT 

By  the  time  the  advertising  manager  has  com- 
pleted the  circuit  of  the  departments  he  has  a  large 
collection  of  these  blanks,  from  which  he  prepares 
"copy"  for  the  big  page  or  double-page  advertise- 
ment to  be  inserted  in  the  Sunday  newspapers. 
After  making  a  rough  draft  of  the  wording  of  the 
"display"  for  each  individual  department  he  groups 
these  sections  on  a  blank  diagram  the  size  of  an 
ordinary  newspaper  page.  Into  the  spaces  of  this 
diagram  he  stamps  a  rough  impression  from  the 
various  cuts  with  which  the  advertisement  is  to  be 
illustrated.  One  of  these  diagrams,  and  the  electro- 
types of  all  the  cuts  to  be  used,  are  sent  to  each 
newspaper  used  as  a  medium  by  the  house.  In  the 
composing-room  of  the  newspaper  the  "copy"  is 
set  up  in  galley  form  and  a  proof  is  immediately 
returned  to  the  advertising  manager  of  the  depart- 
ment store,  who  carefully  revises  it  and  returns  it 
to  the  newspaper.  There,  all  the  various  depart- 
ment advertisements  are  assembled  into  page  form 
according  to  the  arrangement  of  the  diagram.  A 
page  proof  is  sent  to  the  advertising  manager  not 
later  than  Friday  afternoon  and,  if  correct,  receives 
his  final  "O  K." 

In  all  cases  a  sufficient  number  of  duplicate  proofs 
must  be  submitted  to  permit  the  advertising  chief 
to  send  one  to  each  department  represented  in  the 

125 


THE   MAKING   OF   A   MERCHANT 

advertisement.  These  proofs  are  distributed  not 
later  than  Saturday  morning,  and  the  head  of  each 
department  immediately  calls  the  floor-walker,  who 
is  charged  with  the  duty  of  seeing  that  correct  signs 
and  price  tickets  in  proper  quantity  are  furnished 
by  the  "sign-writing"  shop,  and  that  the  clerks, 
porters,  inspectors  and  other  employees  receive  the 
orders  which  will  place  the  advertised  goods  on  the 
counters,  properly  displayed,  and  ready  for  the 
Monday  morning  rush. 

No  corner  in  the  big  department  store  is  more 
interesting  than  the  "sign  shop,"  and  the  number  of 
placards  turned  out  by  a  skilled  workman  in  this 
department  is  almost  incredible,  considering  the  fact 
that  the  lettering  must  be  done  in  an  artistic  and 
attractive  manner.  Of  ordinary  price  tickets  a  good 
writer  can  produce  five  hundred  in  a  day.  The 
signs  put  out  by  a  department  store  vary  in  size 
from  the  tiny  price  ticket  to  the  huge  banner  meas- 
uring fifteen  by  sixty  feet. 

Most  department  stores  have  a  general  "sign 
inspector,"  whose  duty  it  is  to  see  that  all  placards 
are  properly  placed,  and  that  they  contain  only 
accurate  and  appropriate  statements.  An  ordinary 
bargain  sale  calls  for  the  writing  of  about  five  thou- 
sand signs,  but  a  complete  change  of  all  the  placards 
in  a  large  establishment  of  this  kind  would  necessi- 

126 


THE   MAKING   OF  A   MERCHANT  ' 

tate  the  lettering  of  not  less  than  25,000  tickets, 
signs  and  banners  of  all  descriptions.  Clerks  and 
department  heads  are  required  to  keep  a  record  of 
every  advertised  article  sold,  and  at  the  end  of  each 
bargain  day  a  report  covering  all  these  items,  their 
cost  and  selling  price,  is  sent  from  each  department 
to  the  advertising  manager  so  that  he  may  have 
accurate  knowledge  of  the  effect  produced  by  his 
advertisements. 

A  most  effective  and  novel  line  of  advertising 
which  has  been  developed  to  a  remarkable  degree  by 
the  department  store  is  that  of  elaborate  window 
displays.  The  modern  show  window  of  the  metro- 
politan department  store  has  become  one  of  the 
great  "sights"  of  the  city,  as  distinctly  a  part  of 
the  public  entertainment  as  the  theater  or  the  art 
gallery.  So  elaborate  and  ambitious  have  these 
window  displays  become  that  one  large  depart- 
ment store  makes  an  annual  appropriation  of  $50,- 
ooo  for  the  maintenance  of  its  show  window  depart- 
ment. It  is  by  no  means  unusual  for  a  department 
store  to  expend  $500  in  the  decoration  of  a  window, 
and  one  display  which  was  viewed  by  thousands 
of  people  during  the  holiday  season  required  an 
expenditure  of  $3,500.  This  represented  a  depart- 
ment store  peopled  with  moving  dolls.  The  coun- 
ters were  stocked  with  miniature  goods  of  every 

127 


THE   MAKING   OF  A    MERCHANT 

description,  the  elevators  were  in  constant  opera- 
tion, receiving  and  discharging  passengers,  and  cash 
girls  and  customers  moved  about  with  all  the  anima- 
tion of  bargain-day  life.  Another  store  had  an 
elaborate  representation  of  a  scene  in  Holland,  the 
production  of  which  cost  $4,000.  As  a  rule,  the 
ordinary  display  window  "runs"  for  a  week  only, 
but  the  costly  and  elaborate  holiday  displays  are  in 
place  for  about  six  weeks. 

The  modeling  of  manikins  is  practically  the  only 
feature  of  show  window  work  which  is  not  done  in 
the  shop  of  the  department  store,  which  employs  for 
this  department  a  force  of  expert  carpenters,  paint- 
ers and  decorators,  general  "trimmers,"  and  an 
electrician  of  high  ability  and  possessed  of  unusual 
inventive  talent.  When  it  is  remembered  that  a 
large  department  store  has  from  fifty  to  eighty  dis- 
play windows,  each  of  which  must  be  frequently 
dressed,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  window  squad  does 
not  lack  for  employment. 

Before  the  question  of  advertising  is  dismissed 
let  me  repeat  the  words  of  one  general  manager 
of  a  department  store  who  declared,  "The  best  pos- 
\  sible  advertisement  is  a  satisfied  customer."  This, 
of  course,  holds  good  in  every  line  of  merchandis- 
ing, but  it  must  be  recognized  by  the  progressive 
department  store  manager  who  would  elevate  his 

128 


THE   MAKING   OF   A    MERCHANT 

enterprise  to  the  same  standing  for  reliability  and 
fair  dealing  that  is  enjoyed  by  the  conservative  old- 
line  merchant  who  handles  a  more  exclusive  line  of 
goods,  and  feels  that  he  has  a  personal  reputation 
to  make  and  maintain  in  connection  with  his  store. 

On  the  score  of  competition  it  should  be  observed 
that  each  department  store  keeps  careful  watch  upon 
the  movements  of  its  competitors.  This  is  done  in  a 
systematic  manner  in  which  practically  every  feature 
of  the  trade  is  considered.  Each  store,  for  example, 
keeps  as  careful  a  record  of  the  advertisements  of  its 
competitors  as  it  does  of  its  own  bargain  sales,  tabu- 
lating the  articles  and  their  prices,  and  comparing 
the  latter  with  its  own  ordinary  selling  terms  and 
its  bargain  sale  prices.  It  is  also  a  general  practice 
for  the  progressive  department  store  to  maintain  in 
its  service  a  corps  of  "confidential  shoppers."  These 
persons  are  little  seen  in  the  stores  with  which  they 
have  a  confidential  connection,  but  are  regular  vis- 
itors at  the  counters  of  competitors,  where  they 
observe  what  lines  of  goods  are  being  most  eagerly 
pushed,  and  also  make  note  of  the  quality  and  vol- 
ume of  special  lines  of  merchandise,  as  well  as  of  all 
other  matters  which  they  believe  may  be  of  moment 
to  the  house  by  which  they  are  employed. 

A  few  years  ago  the  complaint  department  of  the 
department  store  was  an  unfailing  source  of  enter- 

129 


THE   MAKING   OF  A   MERCHANT 

tainment  to  those  in  position  to  observe  its  affairs. 
As  an  indication  of  the  extent  to  which  thorough 
system  has  reduced  the  volume  of  complaints  it  may 
be  said  that  in  one  department  store,  which  ten 
years  ago  had  a  complaint  staff  of  five  persons,  one 
man  now  attends  to  all  the  complaints,  and  is  not 
overburdened  with  work  at  that.  The  most  fruitful 
source  of  complaints  is  the  misplacement  of  delivery 
tags.  A  woman,  for  instance,  buys  a  wash  boiler, 
alongside  of  which  is  standing  a  wringer.  Through 
the  carelessness  of  the  clerk  the  tag  is  attached  to 
the  wringer  instead  of  the  boiler,  and  the  mistake 
is  not  discovered  until  a  delivery  of  the  article  is 
attempted.  Then  the  error  comes  to  the  complaint 
desk. 

The  general  tendency  of  department  store  man- 
agement seems  to  be  in  the  direction  of  a  very  liberal 
policy  regarding  the  exchange  of  articles.  This  is 
dictated  by  the  consideration  which  I  have  already 
named:  that  the  best  advertisement  is  a  satisfied 
customer.  But,  no  matter  how  liberally  this  policy 
may  be  pursued,  there  are  some  persons  who  inter- 
pret it  with  a  breadth  and  freedom  that  surprises 
even  the  chief  of  the  exchange  desk,  who  is  well 
trained  in  the  foibles  of  human  nature. 

Constant  vigilance  must  be  exercised  on  the  part 
of  clerks,  floor-walkers  and  house  detectives  to  pro- 

130 


THE   MAKING   OF   A    MERCHANT 

tect  the  department  store  and  its  patrons  from 
swindlers,  shoplifters,  pickpockets  and  sneak  thieves. 
The  house  detectives  of  these  large  retail  establish- 
ments are  required  to  pay  regular  visits,  each  morn- 
ing, to  the  principal  police  stations  in  order  to  look 
over  the  arrests  which  have  been  made  during  the 
previous  day  and  night,  to  study  the  photographs 
added  to  the  rogues'  gallery,  and  to  acquire  all 
other  information  of  a  character  that  may  assist 
them  in  identifying  professional  thieves,  whether 
shoplifters  or  pickpockets.  Through  this  precaution 
many  professional  rogues  are  "spotted"  before  they 
have  time  to  ply  their  craft  inside  the  establishment. 
On  the  other  hand,  many  daring  enterprises  in  the 
line  of  shoplifting  are  attempted,  and  not  a  few  of 
them  are  successfully  executed.  Female  shoplifters 
of  the  professional  kind  generally  have  cloaks,  capes 
and  dress  skirts  fitted  with  capacious  inside  pockets 
into  which  goods  may  easily  be  slipped.  Sometimes 
attempts  are  made  to  carry  away  very  cumbersome 
and  bulky  articles.  In  one  instance  three  women 
undertook  to  steal  a  handsome  dinner  set  consisting 
of  one  hundred  pieces.  They  began  early  in  the 
morning  and  worked  at  their  task  until  they  had 
made  away  with  about  forty  plates,  of  varying  sizes, 
when  they  were  apprehended  and  the  pieces  taken 
from  them.  Many  adepts  in  this  profession  are 


THE   MAKING   OF   A    MERCHANT 

excellent  actors  and  make  possible  the  success  of 
their  accomplices  by  feigning  a  swoon  or  sudden  and 
violent  illness.  In  the  excitement  of  such  a  scene 
as  this  their  accomplices  are  generally  able  to  make 
a  rich  haul  and  escape.  Some  of  the  experts  in 
this  line  of  acting  go  so  far  as  to  secrete  small 
particles  of  soap  in  their  mouths,  in  order  that  when 
they  fall  in  a  spasm  their  lips  may  appear  to  be  cov- 
ered with  froth.  Tricks  of  this  kind,  however,  were 
much  more  successfully  worked  when  the  aisles  of 
the  department  stores  were  much  narrower  than  at 
present.  Now  the  wide  passages  make  the  snatch- 
ing of  goods  much  more  difficult  than  formerly. 
Again,  the  presence  of  policemen  in  uniform  has  a 
tendency  to  discourage  the  more  timid  operators  in 
this  nefarious  craft. 

There  is  comparatively  little  opportunity  to  vic- 
timize the  department  store  by  swindling.  This  is 
sometimes  accomplished,  however,  by  means  of 
forged  signatures  on  orders  for  goods.  Perhaps  the 
cleverest  swindling  game  recently  detected  was  the 
following:  A  woman  purchased  a  cloak  at  a 
department  store  and  ordered  it  delivered  at  a  rail- 
way station  at  a  certain  hour.  As  the  messenger 
bearing  the  parcel  entered  the  station  the  accom- 
plice pf  the  purchaser  met  him  with  extended  hand 
and  the  exclamation:  "Oh,  here  you  are  with  my 

132 


THE   MAKING   OF   A    MERCHANT 

parcel  from  X 's  store!  I  was  afraid  you 

wouldn't  get  here  in  time,  but  I  can  just  catch  my 
train." 

The  package  was  hurriedly  taken  from  the  hand 
of  the  messenger  boy  and  a  dime  thrust  into  his 
palm.  The  following  day  the  original  purchaser 
appeared  at  the  department  store  and  said,  "What 
was  the  reason  that  you  did  not  deliver  my  cloak 
at  the  station  as  you  agreed?"  Of  course,  investi- 
gation showed  that  it  had  been  delivered.  The 
messenger  boy  was  summoned  and  confessed  that 
the  person  to  whom  he  had  handed  the  parcel  was 
not  the  one  confronting  him  with  the  purchase 
ticket.  The  only  course  open  to  the  management, 
in  the  absence  of  absolute  proof  of  the  fraud,  was 
that  of  returning  the  purchase  money,  thereby  let- 
ting the  plotters  have  the  cloak  and  the  money 
which  had  been  paid  for  it. 

Next  to  the  swindler  and  the  shoplifter  the  "false 
shopper"  is  probably  most  dreaded  and  disliked  by 
the  department  store  management.  This  individual 
is  generally  a  woman,  accompanied  by  a  friend  in 
whose  eyes  she  is  anxious  to  make  a  favorable  show- 
ing in  the  way  of  demonstrating  her  personal  pros- 
perity and  ability  to  buy  goods.  After  obtaining  a 
transfer  ticket  this  woman,  accompanied  by  her 
friend,  makes  the  round  of  the  departments  and 

133 


THE   MAKING   OF  A    MERCHANT 

buys  liberally.  Then  she  excuses  herself  for  a 
moment  on  the  plea  that  she  must  go  to  the  transfer 
desk  and  settle  for  her  purchases.  This,  however, 
is  precisely  what  she  does  not  do,  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  destroys  her  ticket,  rejoins  her  friend  and  goes 
home,  leaving  her  purchases  uncalled  for.  The 
latter  have  become  actual  sales  and  are  so  entered, 
thus  involving  the  labor  and  annoyance  of  being 
carefully  traced  and  credited  back  to  the  several 
departments  from  which  they  originally  came. 

Before  leaving  the  subject  of  the  department  store 
in  general  one  of  the  most  important  questions  to 
be  raised  is :  What  opportunities  does  the  depart- 
ment store  offer  for  young  men? 

This  may  be  better  answered  by  example  than 
by  speculative  argument.  The  general  manager  of 
one  of  the  largest  stores  of  this  kind  in  existence 
started  as  a  cash  boy  and  sweeper.  Then  he  was 
made  a  salesman  and  served  a  turn  behind  nearly 
every  counter  in  the  establishment.  Next  he  was 
placed  in  charge  of  several  departments  and  was 
initiated  into  the  mysteries  of  buying  goods.  Then 
he  became  one  of  the  proprietor's  personal  lieuten- 
ants. Finally  he  was  promoted  to  his  present  posi- 
tion, in  which  he  commands  a  salary  of  imposing 
proportions  although  he  is  still  a  young  man. 

His  chief  assistant  began  by  opening  cases  of 
134 


THE  MAKING  OF  A   MERCHANT 

goods  in  the  receiving  department.  There  he 
learned  to  check  bills.  Next  he  was  assigned  to 
salesman's  duty.  From  the  counter  he  was  sent  to 
the  accounting  department,  where  he  was  promoted 
to  the  charge  of  the  "department  office/'  Next  he 
advanced  to  the  position  of  general  bookkeeper,  then 
to  the  important  executive  station  of  advertising 
manager.  His  next  promotion  made  him  assistant 
superintendent,  and  as  such  he  did  a  large  portion 
of  the  work  of  employing  help.  Then  he  became 
assistant  manager. 

It  is  apparently  the  policy  of  the  department  store 
to  follow  civil-service  lines  and  recruit  its  execu- 
tive staff  from  the  ranks  of  those  employees  who 
have  won  promotion  from  the  humblest  places.  The 
young  man  with  energy  and  executive  talent  has 
unquestionably  as  good  an  opportunity  to  win  rapid 
promotion  to  places  of  large  influence  and  high  sal- 
ary in  the  department  store  as  in  any  other  form  of 
mercantile  enterprise.  And  the  fact  that  these  estab- 
lishments are  generally  conducted  on  a  very  large 
scale  and  are  big  profit  winners  is  a  guarantee  that 
the  places  at  the  top  are  worth  the  getting,  and  com- 
mand salaries  ample  to  satisfy  any  reasonable 
ambition. 


135 


THE  EXTENSION  OF  CREDIT 


CHAPTER   IX 
THE  QUALIFICATIONS  OF  A   GOOD  CREDIT   MAN 

THE  credit  department  is  generally  the  field 
most  attractive  to  the  young  man  who  is 
ambitious  to  make  a  figure  in  mercantile  life.  Here 
is  the  arena  in  which  a  talent  for  financiering  may 
be  displayed  every  work-day  of  the  week,  and  the 
employee  may  earn  a  year's  salary  by  a  clever  turn 
or  the  prompt  exercise  of  judgment  and  firmness. 
What  wonder,  then,  that  the  young  man  who  feels 
himself  equipped  by  nature  and  tastes  for  the  ex- 
ploits of  commercial  finance — for  the  thinking  and 
planning  part  of  mercantile  life — longs  to  test  his 
mettle  at  the  credit  desk. 

There  every  transaction  has  its  beginning  and 
its  end,  its  initial  sanction  and  its  formal  termina- 
tion. To  the  credit  man  and  his  assistants  come  the 
merchants  of  other  cities — men  of  recognized  power 
and  influence  in  their  community — and  stand  before 
them  to  be  judged  as  to  their  integrity,  their  busi- 
ness capacity,  their  energy,  their  financial  soundness 
and  resources,  and  their  character  in  general. 

139 


THE   MAKING   OF  A   MERCHANT 

No  judge  on  the  bench  faces  so  difficult  a  problem 
as  that  which  confronts  the  credit  man.  If  the  latter 
fails  to  be  absolutely  judicial  in  his  decision  his 
hopes  of  success  must  be  small  indeed.  On  the 
other  hand,  he  is  not  so  protected  from  personal 
influence  as  is  the  judge.  The  customer  makes  his 
own  appeal  for  credit  or  its  extension,  and  leans  on 
the  desk  of  the  credit  man,  looking  the  latter  full 
in  the  eye  as  he  does  so.  Perhaps  this  customer  is 
known  to  be  a  personal  friend  of  the  proprietor,  and 
the  credit  man  is  in  honor  bound  to  conceal  the 
reasons  leading  to  the  denial  of  the  request.  This 
makes  refusal  very  hard  to  give,  but  there  is  only 
one  safe  road  for  the  credit  man  to  follow  in  all 
instances :  he  must  be  more  judicial,  if  possible,  than 
the  righteous  judge,  and  take  nothing  save  his  own 
best  judgment  into  account. 

More  than  this,  he  must  be  quick  to  catch  at 
straws  of  circumstance  and  read  their  significance. 
This  can  best  be  from  a  personal  experience.  A 
man  who  had  a  large  line  of  credit  with  us  and  was 
considered  the  "big  man"  in  the  mercantile  circle  of 
his  own  city,  came  to  request  the  extension  of  a 
note.  Just  previous  to  his  appearance  at  my  desk 
I  had  been  in  his  city  and  took  occasion  to  get 
shaved  in  the  barber  shop  underneath  his  store. 
Incidentally,  I  chanced  to  make  a  passing  reference 

140 


THE   MAKING   OF  A    MERCHANT 

to  the  place  above  us,  and  the  barber  shook  his  head 
and  remarked : 

"They're  not  throwing  the  goods  down  on  the 
counter  the  way  they  used  to.  The  captain  of  the 
ship  seems  to  be  pushing  the  Sunday  school  conven- 
tion business  more  than  the  dry  goods  trade.  He's 
away  a  good  deal,  and  leaves  things  to  his  clerks 
considerable." 

Although  I  was  comparatively  new  to  the  credit 
desk,  and  was  acting  in  the  place  of  the  credit  chief, 
who  was  in  Europe,  I  declined  to  extend  the  note. 
My  customer  was  greatly  astonished  at  this  develop- 
ment, and  reminded  me  that  if  the  regular  credit 
chief  were  there  the  favor  would  be  instantly 
granted.  I  knew  this  was  altogether  probable;  but 
I  believed  the  man  had  reached  a  period  of  financial 
unsoundness,  and  my  duty  was  clear.  There  was 
nothing  for  me  to  do  but  quietly  insist  on  a  settle- 
ment. This  I  secured.  Shortly  afterward  the  man 
failed,  owing  a  competitor  of  our  establishment 
$10,000.  I  had  caught  the  right  straw  and  saved 
the  house  thousands  of  dollars  by  standing  firmly 
to  my  conviction. 

Hundreds  of  parallel  instances  have  come  within 
my  experience,  and  all  emphasize  the  point  that  the 
credit  man  must  be  as  judicial  as  Justice,  as  firm  as 
a  rock,  and  sensitive  to  the  thousand  straws  of  cir- 

141 


THE   MAKING   OF   A    MERCHANT 

cumstance  which  show  the  drift  of  financial  cur- 
rent. These  requirements  may  appear  very  exact- 
ing and  almost  impossible.  Certainly  the  number 
of  men  who  embody  this  combination  of  qualities 
is  not  large.  On  the  other  hand,  the  young  man 
with  genius  or  even  talent  for  credits  has  before  him 
a  career  rich  in  possibilities  and  rewards. 

A  man  may  write  credits  for  half  a  lifetime  and 
not  be  a  credit  man.  It  sounds  trite  to  say  that  the 
real  credit  man  is  born,  not  made;  but  this  phrase 
seems  to  apply  with  greater  fitness  and  truth  to  this 
member  of  the  executive  staff  of  the  modern  whole- 
sale establishment  than  to  any  other  of  its  depart- 
mental heads.  Why  this  is  so  will  easily  be  seen  by 
a  little  examination  into  the  qualifications  which 
afford  the  best  equipment  for  the  peculiar  responsi- 
bilities of  the  credit  desk. 

Most  important  of  all,  he  must  be  a  temperate 
man — and  I  use  the  word  in  its  broadest,  its  dispo- 
sitional  sense.  He  must  not  only  maintain  the 
appearance  of  a  calm  and  equable  temperament,  but 
this  must  be  in  fact  his  mental  attitude  and  condi- 
tion. For  a  credit  man  to  become  excited  would  be 
as  incongruous  and  unpardonable  as  for  a  judge  on 
the  bench  to  give  place  to  a  display  of  passion  or 
temper.  His  every  act  should  be  judicial,  analytical 
and  far  removed  from  passion  or  prejudice.  Then 

142 


THE   MAKING  OF  A   MERCHANT 

he  must  be  gifted  with  a  talent  for  affairs — a  "nose 
for  business,"  as  the  good  editor  or  reporter  has  a 
"nose  for  news."  This  quality  is  more  intuitive 
than  logical  in  its  operation,  and  may  well  be  classed 
as  a  gift  of  Nature  rather  than  one  of  the  ordinary 
faculties  of  reason. 

Now,  as  to  the  artificial  acquirements,  the  study, 
training  and  experience  which  give  the  man  who 
is  about  to  take  up  the  duties  of  the  credit  desk  the 
best  possible  preparation  for  the  exacting  demands 
of  the  position :  I  am  profoundly  convinced  that 
the  credit  man  who  has  not  lived  on  a  farm  or  in 
a  country  village  must  always  be  at  a  distinct  dis- 
advantage in  his  work.  No  amount  of  native 
shrewdness  can  make  up  for  the  lack  of  an  intimate, 
first-hand  knowledge  of  all  the  conditions  which 
affect  the  prosperity  of  the  farmer  and  the  rural 
community.  The  ideal  basis  of  experience  upon 
which  to  build  a  good  credit  man  is  a  boyhood  on 
a  farm,  a  few  years  in  the  typical  "general  store"  of 
the  average  village,  a  period  of  service  in  the  coun- 
try bank  and  a  thorough  drill  in  the  cashier's  depart- 
ment of  the  wholesale  house.  The  young  man  who 
comes  to  the  credit  desk  with  this  kind  of  experi- 
ence behind  him  has  the  best  schooling  for  the  place 
that  he  could  possibly  possess. 

Why  place  so  much  stress  on  this  country  train- 
H3 


THE   MAKING   OF   A   MERCHANT 

ing?  Why  insist  that  no  credit  man  who  has  not 
lived  on  a  farm  may  reasonably  hope  to  come  up 
to  the  full  stature  of  the  ideal  credit  man?  Gen- 
erally speaking,  each  customer  of  the  wholesale 
dealer  is  his  distributing  agent  in  the  center  of  a 
circle  of  farmers.  The  latter  may  be  spoken  of  as 
the  final  customers,  for  all  trade  must,  sooner  or 
later,  get  back  to  them  for  a  basis — and  this  step 
is  ordinarily  shorter  and  more  direct  than  is  com- 
monly supposed.  Whatever  affects  the  farmer 
affects  the  retail  merchant  and  makes  his  prosperity 
or  his  adversity,  and  the  credit  man's  task  is  simply 
that  of  accurately  forecasting  the  financial  condition 
of  the  country  merchant.  If  the  retail  tradesman  is 
dependent  for  his  prosperity  upon  that  of  the  farmer, 
it  is  plain  to  see  that  a  knowledge  of  all  that  makes 
good  or  bad  times  for  the  farmer  is  the  elemental 
thing  in  the  calculations  of  the  credit  man.  If  he 
knows  the  climatic  conditions  which  have  prevailed 
in  certain  localities  during  the  crop-growing  season 
he  does  not  need  to  have  his  customer  come  to  the 
city  to  tell  him  how  trade  and  collections  have  been. 
No  matter  how  bright,  shrewd  and  sound  may  be 
the  country  merchant,  he  cannot  prosper  without 
trade  and  its  harvest  of  collected  profits,  and  when 
the  weather  in  any  locality  has  been  against  the 
farmers  the  credit  man  knows  that  he  must  watch 

144 


THE   MAKING  OF  A   MERCHANT 

the  account  of  the  merchant  from  that  locality  a 
little  more  carefully  than  he  would  if  the  farmers 
there  were  enjoying  the  best  of  conditions. 

If  he  can  form  a  first-hand  judgment  of  the 
"prospects"  of  any  customer,  uncolored  by  the  views 
or  arguments  of  the  latter,  he  is  able  to  determine 
how  much  credit  to  extend  to  the  country  merchant, 
how  large  a  stock  of  goods  the  tradesman  should 
carry,  when  to  be  lenient  with  him  and  when  not. 
Here  is  a  case  in  point :  A  country  merchant, 
apparently  above  the  average  in  prosperity,  came  to 
me  and  asked  for  a  large  credit.  No  sooner  did 
he  name  the  town  from  which  he  came  than  I  had 
a  fair  idea  of  the  possible  extent  of  his  trade  under 
the  most  advantageous  circumstances,  for  I  knew 
the  population  of  the  town,  the  extent  of  farming 
territory  from  which  he  might  hope  to  draw  trade, 
and  the  general  productiveness  of  the  locality.  Then 
came  a  few  casual  inquiries  about  the  kind  of 
weather  that  had  prevailed  in  his  region,  and  I  had  a 
survey  of  his  business  situation  and  prospects  which 
was  far  more  comprehensive  and  exact  than  he  sus- 
pected. The  line  of  credit  which  he  wished  to  estab- 
lish was  large  enough  for  a  merchant  leading  the 
trade  in  a  community  five  times  the  size  of  that  in 
which  he  was  located.  Consequently,  instead  of 
receiving  the  liberal  credit  for  which  he  asked,  he 


THE   MAKING   OF  A    MERCHANT 

was  given  a  limit  of  $1,000.  Of  course,  he  did  not 
like  this,  and  at  the  time  my  decision  might  have 
seemed  a  little  arbitrary,  as  I  had  no  reason  to 
believe  he  was  not  an  honest  man.  But  I  knew  he 
did  not  need  to  buy  the  big  stock  of  goods  he  wished 
to  start  out  with,  as  the  possible  volume  of  trade  at 
his  command  would  not  warrant  so  heavy  an  invest- 
ment. An  Eastern  jobbing  house,  however,  did  not 
take  this  view  of  the  country  merchant's  situation, 
and  trusted  him  to  the  extent  of  more  than  $50,000. 
Very  likely  the  credit  man  of  that  establishment  had 
never  done  any  actual  forming  and  had  not  served 
an  apprenticeship  in  a  country  store  or  bank.  Cer- 
tainly he  demonstrated  that  he  was  utterly  unable 
to  form  any  idea  of  the  trade  capacity  of  a  farming 
community.  The  merchant  who  had  thus  secured 
from  the  Eastern  house  an  enormous  quantity  of 
goods  disposed  of  the  major  part  of  them  by  the 
most  expeditious  methods  possible  and  then  made 
his  escape  to  Canada  with  the  proceeds. 

Though  agriculture  is  the  basis  of  business  in  this 
country,  and  though  I  think  it  of  greater  advantage 
to  the  young  credit  man  to  understand  by  experi- 
ence the  life  of  a  farming  district  rather  than  of  any 
other  kind  of  industrial  community,  I  do  not  wish 
to  place  an  absurd  or  exaggerated  value  on  this 
point  of  rural  experience.  Rather  let  the  emphasis 

146 


THE  MAKING  OF  A   MERCHANT 

rest  on  this  statement :  Get  a  clear  and  intelligent 
idea  of  the  environments  of  each  customer,  whether 
he  lives  in  a  dairy,  a  mining,  a  lumbering,  a  stock- 
raising  or  a  manufacturing  community.  This  will 
enable  you  to  form  an  independent  and  unprejudiced 
idea  of  the  situation. 

Next  in  the  list  of  acquirements  which  the  young 
credit  man  must  have  to  make  him  successful  is  a 
good,  practical  familiarity  with  accounts  and  a 
sound  knowledge  of  commercial  law.  The  first  he 
may  obtain  at  the  bookkeeping  desk  of  the  country 
store,  in  the  village  bank  or,  perhaps,  in  the  com- 
mercial school.  Though  I  hold  that  actual  experi- 
ence is  the  best  school  for  an  accountant,  I  am 
not  prejudiced  against  the  commercial  school,  for 
the  reason  that  a  certain  amount  of  scientific  or,  if 
you  please,  theoretical  knowledge  is  necessary  in  the 
making  of  a  good  accountant — one  who  is  able  to 
start  a  set  of  books  or  reorganize  a  set  which  has 
been  incompetently  handled.  A  man  may  post  a 
set  of  accounts  for  thirty  years,  following  blindly 
an  established  routine,  without  understanding  the 
first  principles  of  accounting.  Therefore,  a  fair 
grounding  in  the  theory  of  bookkeeping  enforced 
by  actual  experience  is  by  far  the  best  training  in 
this  direction. 

One  line  of  preparation  which  no  young  credit 

147 


THE  MAKING   OF  A    MERCHANT 

man  can  afford  to  neglect  is  that  of  commercial 
law.  The  occasions  on  which  this  kind  of  informa- 
tion is  most  needed  generally  arise  unexpectedly 
and  suddenly.  There  is  no  opportunity  for  leis- 
urely consultation  of  legal  authorities.  Action 
must  be  taken  immediately.  How  may  the  young 
man  ground  himself  in  this  branch  of  the  credit 
business  so  that  he  will  not,  through  ignorance  or 
misunderstanding  of  the  law,  plunge  his  house  into 
an  expensive  mistake?  Attendance  upon  a  course 
of  lectures  on  the  fundamentals  of  commercial  law, 
delivered  by  a  plain,  practical,  common-sense  law- 
yer, is  probably  the  most  convenient  way  in  which  to 
get  a  good  grounding  in  this  branch  of  legal  knowl- 
edge. This  is  easily  to  be  had  in  any  well-equipped 
law  or  business  college.  If  this  means  of  informa- 
tion is  not  available,  and  if  he  does  not  already 
know  an  able  and  experienced  commercial  lawyer, 
let  him  make  the  acquaintance  of  such  an  attorney, 
and  cultivate  the  acquaintance  into  a  friendship  so 
intimate  that  the  professional  man  will  gladly 
answer  his  questions  by  the  hour. 

Of  course  the  young  credit  man  may  put  in  his 
evenings  reading  commercial  law,  if  he  has  the 
application  and  energy  to  do  this  in  a  systematic 
way,  but  the  individual  so  gifted  is  rare.  He  will 
start  into  the  reading  with  colors  flying,  but  will 

148 


THE  MAKING   OF  A   MERCHANT 

drop  out  of  the  dreary  pursuit  as  soon  as  its  "deadly 
monotony"  is  fully  realized.  By  far  the  better 
way  is  to  absorb  the  legal  knowledge  from  a  lawyer 
who  is  gifted  with  sound  common-sense  and  has 
had  experience  in  commercial  litigation. 

Whenever  some  problem  in  commercial  law  is 
suggested  by  the  experiences  of  the  day,  let  this  be 
carefully  considered  and  finally  proposed  to  the 
lawyer.  To  be  sure  that  none  of  these  problems 
is  forgotten,  keep  a  written  memorandum  of  each 
hypothetical  case,  making  its  statement  clear  and 
exact.  It  will  be  well  for  the  young  man  to  record 
his  own  unaided  conclusions  in  each  case  before 
submitting  the  problem  to  his  counselor.  This 
practice  will  tend  to  show  the  soundness  of  his  indi- 
vidual judgment  in  matters  of  commercial  law,  and 
also  will  impress  the  whole  bearings  of  the  case 
upon  his  recollection.  Of  course  the  epitome  of 
the  lawyer's  decision  should  be  placed  on  record. 
Almost  unconsciously  he  will  be  continually  alert 
to  see  to  what  extent  the  conclusions  of  his  friendly 
legal  adviser  are  verified  in  the  stern  test  of  actual 
experience.  Until  the  future  credit  man  is  actually 
a  part  of  the  credit  department  he  cannot  put  in  his 
best  efforts  at  learning  the  wisdom  of  the  credit 
desk.  His  first  year  or  two  of  active  service  in  the 
department  of  credits  must  "make  or  break''  his 

149 


THE   MAKING   OF   A   MERCHANT 

future  record  in  the  greater  number  of  instances. 
This  must  be  the  time  of  his  hard  training,  of  his 
seasoning,  when  his  theories  are  demonstrated  under 
the  severe  pressure  of  responsibility.  Then  it  is 
that  the  general  knowledge  of  accounts  and  of  com- 
mercial law,  which  he  has  picked  up  in  the  cashier's 
department  and  previously  in  the  country  bank  or 
store,  is  applied  under  the  stress  of  the  hurry  and 
push  which  is  as  much  a  feature  of  the  modern 
counting-room  as  of  the  salesroom  or  factory.  In 
some  sudden  exigency  the  advice  of  his  lawyer 
friend  flashes  into  his  mind.  Instantly  he  con- 
cludes, "That  man  was  right!"  and  his  line  of 
action  is  quickly  determined. 

Letter-writing  is  a  branch  of  credit  work  to 
which  altogether  too  little  attention  is  paid.  No 
matter  how  shrewd  a  judge  of  character  any  credit 
man  may  be,  he  labors  under  a  serious  and  dan- 
gerous handicap  unless  he  becomes  an  adroit  letter- 
writer.  When  it  is  remembered  that,  as  a  general 
thing,  the  credit  man  must  be  regarded  as  the  mon- 
itor of  the  establishment,  and  that  the  merchant 
who  never  has  occasion  to  exchange  a  letter  with 
him  or  to  call  at  his  desk  is  most  to  be  congratu- 
lated, it  will  be  seen  that  the  relationship  is  a  pecul- 
iarly sensitive  one.  As  a  rule,  each  letter  written 
by  the  credit  man  means  a  favor  granted  or  denied, 

150 


THE   MAKING   OF   A   MERCHANT 

a  reminder  of  unfulfilled  obligations  or  a  rebuke 
administered.  The  letters  from  the  credit  man 
which  are  not  particularly  welcome  are  considerably 
in  excess  of  those  which  grant  all  that  has  been 
asked;  therefore  the  situation  resolves  itself  into 
a  constant  study  of  how  so  to  word  an  unpleasant 
letter  that  it  may  be  effective  and  still  not  give 
serious  offense.  Scores  of  credit  men  are  able  to 
exercise  sound  diplomacy  in  handling  a  delicate  sit- 
uation when  face  to  face  with  the  customer,  who 
fail  utterly  when  it  comes  to  stating  the  situation  on 
paper.  In  employing  the  agency  of  correspondence 
they  lose  their  facility  and  accuracy  of  expression, 
and  are  either  so  concise  that  their  correspondents 
think  them  cold  and  curt,  or  they  are  so  profuse 
that  the  country  merchant  sees  in  the  multiplicity 
of  words  a  betrayal  of  indecision,  of  timidity  or  lack 
of  directness,  dignity  and  force.  If  a  young  man 
does  not  know  how  to  write  letters  he  may  learn — 
and  to  this  task  he  should  apply  himself  with  energy 
and  patience,  realizing  that  the  importance  of  the 
result  aimed  at  is  an  ample  justification  of  severe 
and  continued  effort. 

The  art  of  saying  no  in  a  manner  so  gracious  that 
the  person  who  receives  the  denial  does  not  feel 
aggrieved,  and  is  inclined  cheerfully  to  grant  its 
justice,  is  nowhere  so  constantly  in  demand  as  at 


THE   MAKING  OF   A    MERCHANT 

the  credit  desk.  There  the  frequency  of  informing 
a  customer  that  his  request  for  an  extension  of  time 
or  for  an  increase  of  his  credit  must  be  denied 
depends  only  upon  the  size  of  the  business.  In  a 
large  house  it  is  an  hourly  routine.  Then  the  mat- 
ter becomes  even  more  sensitive  when  the  house  is 
compelled  to  call  the  customer's  attention  to  the  fact 
that  he  is  crowding  his  limit,  that  he  is  behind  in 
his  payments,  that,  in  one  of  a  possible  score  of  par- 
ticulars, his  relationship  is  not  quite  satisfactory. 
The  tone  of  every  letter  should  be  pitched  with 
nicety  and  in  harmony  with  the  credit  man's  knowl- 
edge of  his  customer's  character  and  with  the  effect 
it  is  desired  to  produce. 

Each  epistle  demands  its  own  individual  adjust- 
ment so  that  it  may  "wing"  without  killing  the  bird, 
for  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  general  object  of 
the  credit  man's  epistolary  efforts  is  to  hold  the 
customers  of  the  house  in  safe  lines  and  to  educate 
them  into  sounder  business  methods,  so  that  he 
may  rely  upon  them  with  greater  certainty  for 
prompt  payments — and  for  larger  payments,  too. 
The  credit  man  who  writes  his  letters  as  if  his 
function  were  to  get  the  money  due  from  a  customer 
in  such  a  manner  that  the  latter  could  not,  with 
self-respect,  continue  to  trade  with  the  house,  is 
not  entirely  an  unknown  species,  but  he  should  be. 

152 


THE   MAKING  OF  A   MERCHANT 

There  is  a  general  impression  that  the  credit  man 
must  be  remarkably  proficient  as  an  accountant  and 
as  a  mathematician — a  "lightning  calculator/'  as 
it  were.  While  he  must  have  a  good,  firm  grasp 
of  the  principles  and  practice  of  accounting,  he  will 
generally  injure  instead  of  help  his  chances  by  dis- 
playing the  powers  of  a  mathematical  prodigy. 

A  gift  for  judging  men  is,  of  course,  the  basis 
of  the  credit  man's  equipment.  Without  this 
peculiar  knack  of  insight  he  is  certain  to  make  ship- 
wreck of  his  career,  if  he  does  not  of  his  house. 
Sometimes  the  statement  of  a  prospective  customer 
and  all  the  information  obtained  from  other  and 
presumably  impartial  and  reliable  sources  go  to 
indicate  that  the  merchant  is  worth  all  the  credit 
for  which  he  asks.  At  the  same  time  the  man  at 
the  credit  desk  has  a  feeling — perhaps  rather  vague 
and  indefinable — that  the  man  is  not  what  he 
claims  and  that  his  request  for  credit  should  be 
denied.  This  brings  the  young  credit  man  face  to 
face  with  a  difficult  and  perplexing  situation.  The 
first  time  he  confronts  a  condition  of  this  kind  he 
may  well  pause  and  ask  which  is  the  safer  guide 
to  follow,  intuition  or  reason. 

Speaking  from  individual  experience  I  would 
say,  act  upon  the  intuition,  for  if  the  case  were 
analyzed  thoroughly  it  would  be  found  that  the 


THE   MAKING  OF  A   MERCHANT 

intuition  is  but  the  impression  gained  from  a  kind 
of  sub-conscious  reasoning.  I  recall  one  time 
when  I  was  confronted  by  a  situation  of  the  kind 
I  have  described.  A  man  from  one  of  the  large 
towns  in  a  Western  farming  state  came  and  asked 
for  a  considerable  credit.  He  stated  that  he  had 
$75,000  capital.  This  was  a  large  amount  for 
such  a  place.  By  a  few  questions,  which  he 
answered  without  hesitation  and  apparently  with- 
out reserve,  I  gained  the  information  that  quite  a 
large  share  of  this  fortune  was  lent  in  Chicago  on 
collateral  security  and  brought  interest  at  the  rate 
of  three  per  cent  to  five  per  cent  a  month.  He  told 
how  extensive  a  line  of  credit  he  was  able  to  com- 
mand from  other  houses,  and  also  gave  the  name 
of  the  man  who  attended  to  his  loan  business  in 
Chicago.  The  latter  verified  all  the  claims  of  our 
prospective  customer,  and  when  the  latter's  name 
was  mentioned  to  the  credit  man  of  a  neighboring 
house  it  drew  out  the  remark,  "We'll  trust  him  for 
$20,000."  In  the  face  of  such  corroboration  and 
indorsement  I  said: 

"You  must  pay  cash  before  we  ship  you  any 
goods  whatever."  Shortly  afterward  the  papers 
contained  sensational  accounts  of  the  sudden  disap- 
pearance of  this  provincial  "merchant  prince."  He 

154 


THE   MAKING   OF  A    MERCHANT 

sold  his  goods  for  less  than  their  cost  and  made 
good  his  escape  across  the  Canadian  border. 

As  I  have  intimated,  the  natural  road  to  the  credit 
desk  is  by  way  of  the  cashier's  department.  There 
the  young  man  handles  the  correspondence  and 
quickly  learns  the  names  of  customers  and  of  their 
towns.  What  is  still  more  important,  he  becomes 
familiar  with  their  business  characteristics  and  hab- 
its. If  Smith,  of  Smithville,  is  inclined  to  remit  a 
few  days  over  time,  and  if  Jones,  of  Jonesboro,  is 
in  the  habit  of  overreaching  the  strict  limits  in  tak- 
ing his  discount,  the  accountants  in  the  cashier's 
office  acquire  this  information  in  the  routine  dis- 
charge of  their  duties.  This  is  not  only  valuable 
but  necessary  information  to  an  assistant  credit  man. 

There  is  little  room  for  advice  on  the  relation- 
ship of  the  young  credit  man  with  the  head  of  the 
house,  or  with  the  dominant  personality  of  the 
establishment,  as  the  nature  of  this  relationship 
must  depend  so  largely  upon  the  character  of  the 
man.  If  he  is  a  broad,  progressive,  modern  man  of 
affairs  he  will  simply  define  a  general  policy  for 
the  credit  department  and  refuse  to  be  consulted 
upon  the  details  of  its  execution,  save  in  cases  of 
the  utmost  importance.  The  only  way  by  which  the 
young  credit  man  may  cultivate  the  confidence  and 
esteem  of  such  a  man  is  to  do  his  work  so  well  that 

155 


THE   MAKING  OF   A   MERCHANT 

the  results  will  speak  his  praises.  It  is  equally  cer- 
tain that  the  only  way  in  which  to  develop  a  credit 
man  is  to  push  him  out  on  his  resources,  where  he 
must  act  on  his  own  judgment  and  act  quickly. 
Any  other  line  of  treatment  is  certain  to  destroy 
the  stamina  and  independence  of  the  credit  man, 
who  must  be  the  backbone  of  the  house  in  the  way 
of  often  sacrificing  what  seems  to  be  a  "bird  in 
the  hand" — the  account  of  a  promising  customer 
— for  the  remote  fear  of  future  disaster.  The 
credit  man  needs  all  the  stamina  he  can  develop, 
and  the  cultivation  of  this  quality  should  be  encour- 
aged instead  of  hindered. 

There  is  also  another  excellent  reason  why  the 
credit  man  should  be  firmly  established  in  the  atti- 
tude of  independent  and  responsible  action,  without 
feeling  any  necessity  for  consultation  with  his 
superior.  The  more  solid  and  desirable  the  cus- 
tomer the  more  sensitive  is  he  to  anything  which 
he  may  construe  as  a  reflection  upon  his  financial 
standing.  Let  us  suppose  that  a  merchant  of  this 
kind  goes  into  a  wholesale  house  where  the  credit 
man  feels  that  he  cannot  take  a  single  important 
step  without  consulting  higher  authority.  He  offers 
his  statement  and  makes  a  showing  which,  he  is 
proudly  conscious,  is  above  question  or  reproach  and 
entitles  him  to  instant  welcome  among  the  best 

156 


THE  MAKING  OF  A   MERCHANT 

patrons  of  the  house.  This  is  what  he  expects,  and 
when  the  credit  man  asks  to  be  excused  for  a  mo- 
ment and  goes  to  the  private  office  of  the  proprietor 
for  consultation,  the  customer  instantly  interprets 
the  hesitation  to  grant  him  the  line  of  credit  asked 
as  a  challenge  to  the  record  he  has  offered.  Prob- 
ably he  recalls  very  distinctly  that  he  did  not  have 
to  wait  in  the  office  of  the  competing  house  while 
the  credit  man  submitted  his  case  to  the  proprietor, 
but  that  he  received  all  he  asked  without  question 
or  delay. 

The  credit  man  who  is  not  given  the  full  authority 
of  his  position  has  not  an  enviable  task.  It  will  be 
doubly  wearing  and  irksome  if  he  has  interference 
and  timidity  to  deal  with  in  the  very  quarter  from 
which  his  support  should  come.  The  word  support 
is  used  advisedly,  for  the  credit  man  soon 
finds  that  he  stands  between  the  selling  de- 
partment and  the  vested  interests  of  the  house. 
Salesmen  are  anxious  to  sell,  and  often  feel 
that  a  ruling  of  the  credit  man  is  too  con- 
servative, and  works  a  direct  hardship  to  them  in 
cutting  down  their  sales,  driving  away  customers, 
and  consequently  curtailing  their  profits.  On  the 
other  hand,  he  is  forcibly  reminded  of  the  other 
side  of  his  problem  when  a  customer  with  a  big 
credit  line  goes  to  the  wall  or  to  Canada,  and  thou- 

157 


THE   MAKING  OF   A    MERCHANT 

sands  of  dollars  go  with  him.  It  is  the  delicate 
and  difficult  mission  of  the  credit  man  to  minimize 
this  friction  between  the  selling  and  the  proprietary 
interests  of  the  establishment,  to  hold  all  the  good 
customers  firmly  in  line,  to  coax  or  prod  the  lag- 
ging into  step  with  the  prompt  ones,  and  to  keep 
the  worthless  out  of  the  ranks  altogether. 


158 


CHAPTER    X 
DIFFICULTIES    AND    DANGERS    OF    CREDIT 

THE  first  routine  duty  which  the  credit  man  dis- 
charges each  morning,  as  soon  as  he  reaches 
his  desk,  is  that  of  looking  at  the  business  ther- 
mometer of  the  house.  No  other  term  so  precisely 
describes  the  nature  of  the  day's  financial  corre- 
spondence. By  the  time  he  has  glanced  at  the  stack 
of  alternating  letters  and  drafts  with  which  his  desk 
or  basket  is  heaped  he  has  as  clear  an  idea  of  the 
"condition  of  the  trade"  as  if  he  had  made  a  tour  of 
inspection  and  called  upon  a  large  number  of  repre- 
sentative customers.  More  than  this,  he  looks 
through  the  glass  of  his  correspondence  and  reads 
the  character  and  the  situation  of  each  individual 
customer  who  has  contributed  a  letter  to  that  morn- 
ing's mail. 

Here  is  the  terse,  formal  letter  of  the  man  of 
methodical  habits  who  merely  makes  his  letter  the 
record  of  the  draft  with  which  it  is  accompanied; 
but  the  latter  may  be  relied  upon  as  being  correct 
in  amount  and  kind,  and  it  is  safe  to  take  the 

159 


THE   MAKING   OF  A   MERCHANT 

absence  of  any  complaint  from  this  customer  as  a 
confession  of  his  satisfaction  with  the  manner  in 
which  the  house  has  handled  his  business.  Then 
there  is  the  man  who  never  sends  a  remittance 
without  a  complaint  of  some  kind  to  keep  it  com- 
pany. Here,  also,  is  the  man  who  has  overstepped 
his  discount  time  by  a  narrow  margin,  and  thinks 
to  make  good  this  delay  by  apologies  and  argu- 
ments. The  stories  which  these  letters  tell  might 
be  continued  almost  indefinitely,  and  in  great 
variety;  but  the  point  is  made  if  it  is  clear  that  the 
standing  of  the  merchant  is  determined  by  the 
contents  of  these  letters;  and  the  real  credit  man 
reads  "between  the  lines"  as  swiftly  as  he  scans 
each  sheet. 

After  the  remittance  letters  are  disposed  of  the 
maker  of  credit  takes  up  the  orders.  There  is  some- 
thing like  a  perpetual  contest  between  these  two 
classes  of  documents,  and  the  complementary 
relationship  between  them  must  be  held  constantly 
in  mind  by  the  credit  man  as  he  scans  them.  With 
one  hand,  so  to  speak,  he  sends  the  remittances  to 
the  cashier,  and  with  the  other  hand  deals  out  the 
orders  to  the  salesman.  It  is  "nip  and  tuck" 
between  them,  as  a  remittance  received  by  the  same 
mail  with  the  order  may  decide  whether  or  not  the 
goods  called  for  in  the  latter  will  be  sent. 

160 


THE   MAKING   OF   A    MERCHANT 

Whenever  he  encounters  an  order  about  which  he 
feels  the  slightest  doubt  he  holds  it  out  for  inquiry 
and  consideration,  and  places  his  O  K  upon  those 
which  pass  without  challenge.  Under  ordinary  cir- 
cumstances, each  doubtful  order  receives  a  quick 
impression  from  a  rubber  stamp,  which  reads  as 
follows : 


Owes  $- 
Due  $- 
Bot.  $• 
H.  C. 
H.  P. 


In  this  list  H.  C.  stands  for  "highest  credit,"  and 
H.  P.  abbreviates  "how  pays."  Each  order  is  taken 
by  a  boy  to  the  ledger  in  which  the  customer's 
account  is  carried,  and  the  information  called  for 
by  the  stamp  is  filled  in.  Let  it  be  supposed  that 
the  entry  comes  back  as  follows: 

Owes  $  375 
Due  $  ooo 
Bot.  $4,560 
H.C.  $  780 
H.  P.  Promptly 

This  showing  would  be  taken  in  at  a  glance,  and 
161 


THE  MAKING   OF  A   MERCHANT 

an  O  K  placed  on  the  order,  which  would  be  hurried 
to  the  sales  department.  But  suppose  the  boy 
returned  from  the  ledger  with  this  record : 

Owes  $4,500 
Due  $2,150 
Bot.  $5,500 
H.C  $4,500 
H.  P.  Slow 

Then  the  credit  man  would  instruct  the  boy  .to 
bring  him  the  "information"  on  that  customer's 
account.  The  lad  would  go  to  a  formidable  record 
where  would  be  found  all  the  detailed  information 
calculated  to  shed  light  upon  the  financial  standing 
and  character  of  the  merchant  in  question.  The 
bookkeeper  also  would  be  called  upon  to  contribute 
to  the  testimony  on  which  the  fate  of  the  order 
must  be  decided.  This  addition  to  the  evidence 
would  be  a  statement  of  the  items  represented  by 
the  $2,150  already  due. 

A  letter  would  then  be  dictated  to  the  customer, 
calling  his  attention  to  the  amount  overdue,  and 
also  informing  him  of  the  credit  man's  decision  on 
the  shipment  of  the  goods  called  for  in  the  latest 
order.  The  tone  of  the  letter  should  accurately 
express  the  attitude  of  the  house  to  the  customer, 

162 


THE   MAKING   OF   A   MERCHANT 

shading  the  degree  of  latitude  of  leniency  allowed 
him,  or  dealing  out  censure  and  limitations  accord- 
ing to  the  extent  and  gravity  of  the  delinquencies. 

A  copy  of  the  statement  is  handed  to  the  assistant 
credit  man  with  instructions  to  follow  the  matter 
up  in  five  days,  for  instance.  The  assistant  enters 
the  customer's  name  in  his  diary  five  days  ahead 
of  date,  and  drops  the  statement  into  an  index 
portfolio.  In  five  days  the  name  is  met  with  on 
the  diary  page,  and  the  statement  taken  from  the 
portfolio.  Then  a  new  statement  is  procured  from 
the  bookkeeper,  and  the  cashier  is  also  consulted, 
as  the  morning's  mail  may  have  brought  a  remit- 
tance from  the  tardy  customer.  Action  of  some 
kind  is  then  decided  upon  by  the  chief  credit  man, 
to  whom  the  documents  are  passed.  He  will  take 
such  decisive  steps  as  he  believes  the  situation 
demands  and  his  customer  will  tolerate.  To  know 
just  the  right  and  effective  thing  to  do  in  ninety- 
nine  of  every  one  hundred  of  these  cases  is  to  be 
a  credit  man. 

While  these  doubtful  orders  are  being  investi- 
gated and  disposed  of  and  correspondence  of  every 
kind  attended  to,  the  credit  man  is  constantly 
interrupted  by  prospective  customers  who  wish  to 
open  accounts  and  are  anxious  to  get  as  liberal  a 
line  of  credit  as  possible. 

163 


THE   MAKING   OF   A   MERCHANT 

Naturally,  they  dread  this  ordeal,  for  modern 
credit  making  methods  have  become  so  exact, 
scientific  and  searching  that  this  preliminary  exam- 
ination is  bound  to  bring  to  light,  as  a  rule,  any 
weakness  in  the  business  condition  of  the  customer, 
and  expose  any  flaws  in  his  statement  of  the  case. 
At  the  same  time  the  credit  man  must  occupy  a 
diplomatic  attitude;  he  must  hold  that  every  appli- 
cant for  credit  is  a  desirable  customer  until  the 
contrary  shall  be  established.  And  he  must  take 
good  care,  too,  not  to  give  offense  to  the  candidate 
for  credit  while  probing  for  any  possible  weakness 
in  his  financial  condition.  No  matter  how  large 
or  pressing  the  correspondence  awaiting  his  atten- 
tion, the  credit  man  must  hear  all  his  caller  has 
to  say;  he  must  be  patient,  courteous  and  resource- 
ful, and,  if  he  is  wise,  he  will  seek  to  prolong  instead 
of  curtail  the  interview. 

Naturally,  the  customer  feels  that  the  meeting  is 
an  important  one,  and  wishes  time  in  which  to 
present  his  case  in  the  best  possible  light,  and  to 
give  the  credit  man  the  most  favorable  idea  of  his 
affairs.  If  there  is  the  slightest  suspicion  in  his 
mind  that  his  story  is  wearisome  he  feels  that  the 
importance  of  his  business  is  not  appreciated.  Noth- 
ing is  so  well  calculated  to  give  the  customer  a 
satisfied  and  friendly  feeling  toward  the  house  as 

164 


THE   MAKING   OF   A    MERCHANT 

the  knowledge  that  the  credit  man  has  listened  with 
apparent  interest  to  every  word  he  has  wished  to 
offer,  and  that  his  plea  has  been  as  full  and  fair 
as  could  be  wished. 

Then  there  is  another  side  to  this  matter  of  giving 
the  prospective  customer  all  the  time  he  wishes  in 
which  to  place  his  affairs  before  the  credit  man. 
Many  men,  and  particularly  those  not  accustomed  to 
the  rush  and  snap  of  metropolitan  business  methods, 
are  not  able  to  tell  the  most  important  things  they 
have  to  say  until  after  a  certain  amount  of  prelim- 
inary conversation.  They  do  not  "strike  their  gait" 
at  the  start,  and  have  to  "warm  up"  gradually  to 
the  main  business  in  hand.  Often  this  is  the  result 
of  embarrassment,  and  in  other  cases  it  is  simply 
the  result  of  being  accustomed  to  doing  business 
in  a  less  precipitate  way. 

At  any  rate,  the  credit  man  frequently  finds  that 
the  most  valuable  information  he  is  able  to  get  out 
of  the  country  merchant  who  calls  at  his  desk  cannot 
be  secured  until  the  caller  has  become  accustomed 
to  his  immediate  surroundings  and  has  talked  of 
the  crops  in  his  locality,  of  his  town,  of  his  family 
and  other  topics  which  he  is  accustomed  to  discuss 
at  home  as  a  kind  of  formal  introduction  to  the 
more  serious  business  under  consideration.  After 
this  personal  ground  has  been  covered,  it  is  the 

165 


THE   MAKING   OF   A   MERCHANT 

fault  of  the  credit  man  if  he  fails  to  gather  a  fair 
idea  of  his  man  and  the  latter's  surroundings.  Very 
likely  some  chance  remark  dropped  by  the  merchant 
after  he  seems  to  have  finished  his  plea  and  has 
fully  gained  his  ease  will  be  the  one  bit  of  informa- 
tion which  will  determine  the  result  of  the  whole 
conference. 

In  this  connection  let  me  emphasize  what  may 
at  first  appear  a  trivial  point.  Learn  where  the 
man  who  seeks  credit  came  from  as  well  as  where 
he  is  located  at  the  moment.  If  he  replies  in 
general  terms,  naming  only  the  state  or  general 
section  of  the  country,  persist  until  you  know  his 
former  town.  A  disinclination  on  a  customer's  part 
to  be  explicit  in  answering  a  question  of  this  kind 
is  sometimes  good  ground  for  suspicion.  Then,  if 
he  names  as  his  "old  home"  a  place  with  which  you 
are  personally  familiar  a  pleasant  bond  of  associa- 
tion is  instantly  established. 

Once  a  Scandinavian  came  to  my  desk  and  asked 
credit.  In  the  course  of  our  talk  I  asked  him  where 
he  came  from,  and  he  gave  the  name  of  a  certain 
provincial  town  in  Sweden.  "Why,"  I  exclaimed, 
"I  spent  one  of  the  pleasantest  winters  of  my  life 
in  that  quaint  old  place!"  This  remark  brought 
me  closer  to  the  man  than  years  of  casual  business 
acquaintanceship  could  have  done.  He  was  delighted 

166 


THE   MAKING  OF  A   MERCHANT 

that  I  was  familiar  with  the  haunts  of  his  boyhood. 
Frequently  the  caller  will  mention  a  city  in  which 
the  credit  man  has  acquaintances — perhaps  the  local 
banker,  a  lawyer,  or  the  station-agent — and  there  is 
a  decided  advantage  in  having  the  customer  know 
that  his  town  contains  men  with  whom  you  are  in 
touch.  The  value  of  this  may  be  in  putting  the 
merchant  on  his  "good  behavior,"  as  it  were,  or 
in  giving  him  the  comfortable  feeling  that  you  stand 
in  a  little  closer  relationship  to  his  town  than  to 
some  others.  All  these  details  are  more  important 
than  they  might  appear,  and  he  is  a  wise  credit 
man  who  does  not  neglect  one  of  them.  Any  item 
of  information  which  gives  a  clearer  idea  of  the 
community  in  which  a  customer  lives,  of  the  physical 
characteristics  of  the  locality,  its  crops,  its  in- 
dustries, its  resources  of  every  kind,  is  worth 
remembering.  Often,  too,  a  merchant  will  drop 
a  word  about  his  family  affairs  which  may  have  a 
direct  and  practical  bearing  on  the  standing  which 
he  should  have  with  his  wholesale  house.  If  his 
wife  or  child  is  an  invalid,  if  his  son  is  wayward 
or  profligate,  or  if  his  household  is  phenomenally 
large,  it  stands  to  reason  that  he  is  carrying  a  heavy 
burden  of  private  expense,  and  this  will  naturally 
have  a  decided  bearing  on  his  business  success. 
Although  he  may  not  have  to  cripple  his  business 


THE   MAKING  OF  A   MERCHANT 

in  order  to  keep  up  private  expenses,  the  burden 
of  this  family  care  and  anxiety  may  so  prey  upon 
his  thought  and  energy  as  to  sap  his  vitality  and 
make  him  discouraged  or,  perhaps,  indifferent  to 
his  business.  Therefore,  know  your  customer,  know 
the  town  in  which  he  is  located,  and  know  the 
community  from  which  he  originally  came. 

But  to  return  to  the  routine  of  the  credit  desk 
after  the  caller  has  been  interviewed  and  has  taken 
his  leave.  The  credit  man's  approval  of  an  order 
does  not  ship  the  goods  therein  listed.  If  it  did  he 
would  be  saved  a  large  volume  of  detail  work.  He 
must  have  the  last  as  well  as  the  first  word  on  every 
separate  transaction  that  each  customer  has  with 
the  house.  Before  him  are  placed  stacks  of  shipping 
tickets,  on  each  of  which  must  be  stamped  his 
approval  before  the  goods  are  released  and  actually 
shipped. 

This  is  a  wise  and  necessary  precaution,  as  some 
vital  change  may  have  taken  place  in  the  affairs 
of  the  merchant  since  the  approval  of  the  order. 
Perhaps  a  salesman  has  telegraphed  that  he  has 
picked  up  information  on  the  road  which  leads  him 
to  believe  the  merchant  is  in  a  "shaky"  condition, 
or  that  a  rival  house  has  become  suspicious  and 
may  be  expected  to  close  up  the  retailer's  store  at 
any  moment.  Or  the  friendly  banker  or  lawyer  or 

168 


THE  MAKING  OF  A   MERCHANT 

station-agent  in  the  merchant's  town  may  have  sent 
in  a  quiet  tip  to  the  effect  that  in  some  way  or 
other  the  applicant's  prosperity  is  threatened.  Any 
one  of  a  hundred  contingencies  may  make  it  judi- 
cious to  hold  up  the  shipment  until  further  develop- 
ments are  had.  Consequently,  the  credit  man  scans 
each  shipping  ticket,  asks  himself  if  there  is  any 
reason  why  the  goods  should  not  leave  the  house, 
and  if  there  is  not  he  stamps  his  O  K  upon  the 
ticket.  If  the  house  is  a  large  one,  the  amount 
of  this  ticket  work  is  heavy  and  burdensome.  In 
one  day  I  have  personally  examined  and  stamped 
seventeen  hundred  of  these  tickets  in  addition  to 
doing  all  other  routine  duties  of  the  desk. 

Not  a  little  of  the  credit  man's  time  is  required 
to  answer  the  inquiries  of  his  business  neighbors 
and  to  send  his  messengers  on  similar  errands.  It 
should  be  understood,  however,  that  it  is  not  cus- 
tomary for  competitors  to  exchange  information. 
As  a  rule,  this  is  done  only  between  houses  in 
different  lines  of  trade.  The  wholesale  shoe  house 
and  the  dry  goods  establishment  occupying  the 
same  territory  have,  broadly  speaking,  the  same 
customers. 

John  Smith,  from  Tinton,  Iowa,  conducts  a  gen- 
eral store,  we  will  say,  and  decides  to  open  an 
account  with  a  wholesale  shoe  house.  The  credit  man 

169 


THE   MAKING  OF   A   MERCHANT 

of  that  establishment  sends  to  the  wholesale  dry 
goods  house  around  the  corner,  and  asks  the  credit 
man  there: 

"Do  you  sell  Smith,  of  Tinton?"  The  answer 
comes : 

"Yes;  he  is  good  for  a  line  of  $3,000." 

An  hour  later  the  shoe  house  may  be  called  upon 
to  make  a  return  of  this  courtesy.  There  is  little 
temptation  to  furnish  misleading  information,  as 
the  houses  are  in  different  lines  of  trade,  and  their 
interests  do  not  conflict.  At  the  same  time  it  is 
well  for  the  young  credit  man  not  to  rely  too 
implicitly  upon  the  advice  of  a  neighbor.  The 
degree  of  his  reliance  must  depend  upon  the  faith 
he  has  in  the  honesty  and  the  shrewdness  of  the 
credit  man  whom  he  consults. 

It  is  hardly  a  safe  practice  for  two  houses  in 
the  same  line  to  attempt  an  exchange  of  information 
concerning  credits.  Were  both  to  act  in  perfectly 
good  faith  it  would  be  inevitable  that  disappoint- 
ments and  complications  would  sooner  or  later  arise 
to  shake  this  confidence  and  give  the  impression  that 
there  had  been  a  deliberate  violation  of  faith.  Cer- 
tainly the  temptation  would  be  strong  so  to  manipu- 
late information  as  to  shift  upon  a  competitor  the 
burden  of  hazards,  keeping  the  safe  customers  as 
exclusively  as  possible  from  the  latter. 

170 


THE   MAKING   OF  A   MERCHANT 

One  of  the  most  common  and  disastrous  causes 
of  failure  among  credit  men  is  a  lack  of  thorough- 
ness in  so  interviewing  a  prospective  customer  at 
the  start  as  to  sift  his  responsibility  to  almost  a 
scientific  certainty.  This  tendency  arises  from  an 
unwillingness  to  give  each  individual  case  a  requisite 
amount  of  time  and  attention.  Too  often  the  inter- 
view which  decides  the  limit  of  a  man's  credit  is 
hurried  through.  In  credits,  as  in  law,  "possession 
is  nine  points."  Once  a  man  is  given  a  certain 
length  of  credit,  it  cannot  be  reduced  without 
danger  of  giving  serious  offense. 

The  credit  man  feels  this  peril  and  will  go  to  great 
expenditure  of  time  and  patience  in  attempting  to 
educate  the  customer  up  to  good  business  methods 
rather  than  to  contract  his  limit  of  credit.  Hours 
are  spent  by  the  conscientious  credit  man  in  the 
attempt  to  coach  his  customers  into  safer  and 
sounder  practice.  Here  the  advisory  functions  of 
the  credit  man  come  into  play ;  and  if  he  has  himself 
lived  on  a  farm  and  worked  in  a  country  store  he 
has  an  immense  advantage,  for  his  words  will  be 
listened  to  and  will  carry  weight  with  the  customer 
because  backed  by  practical  experience. 

However,  a  large  amount  of  this  work  of  training 
customers  will  be  obviated  by  making  the  credit 
a  sound  and  conservative  one  at  the  start.  The 

171 


THE   MAKING   OF   A    MERCHANT 

credit  man  may  get  from  his  customer  all  the 
information  requisite  for  a  safe  credit,  and  then 
fail  to  act  judiciously  through  an  inability  to  analyze 
the  facts  thus  secured.  This  failure  to  go  to  the 
bottom  of  conditions  and  to  see  the  weak  point  of 
very  plausible  situations  is  a  common  and  an  easy 
fault,  and  it  often  arises  with  reference  to  a  cus- 
tomer who  has  long  been  an  excellent  and  a  trusted 
patron. 

Only  recently  an  instance  of  this  nature  arose  in 
my  own  experience  which  may  illustrate  this  point. 
At  the  close  of  1898  I  received  from  a  certain  cus- 
tomer a  statement  of  his  financial  condition.  This 
was  of  the  regulation  kind  asked  of  all  customers; 
it  showed  he  had  real  estate  valued  at  $11,000,  cash 
$5,000  and  $2,500  worth  of  wool,  and  was  free 
from  debt.  In  other  words  he  had  a  clear  fortune 
of  $18,500.  All  the  other  features  of  his  showing 
were  excellent,  and  he  was  therefore  given  a  liberal 
credit. 

Only  a  few  months  ago  he  asked  for  an  extension 
of  time  in  which  to  pay  bills  due  and  amounting  to 
a  considerable  figure.  I  was  informed  that  he  had 
the  same  real  estate  as  when  his  account  was 
opened.  However,  I  determined  to  ask  of  him 
another  full  statement  of  his  affairs.  At  this 
request  he  became  seriously  offended,  raised  the 

172 


THE   MAKING  OF  A   MERCHANT 

money  due  us,  settled  his  account,  and  declined  to 
furnish  the  statement  other  than  to  say  he  had  a 
stock  of  goods  worth  $20,000  which  our  salesman 
had  reported  in  good  condition.  My  answer  was: 
"The  fact  mentioned  in  your  letter  makes  us  still 
more  anxious  for  a  complete  statement,  as  it  is 
evident  you  must  owe  for  a  large  proportion  of 
your  stock." 

Here  was  a  very  plausible  showing,  well  calcu- 
lated to  tempt  the  unwary  credit  man  in  the  habit  of 
taking  things  for  their  face  value  without  careful 
analysis.  The  fact  that  the  man  raised  the  money 
and  paid  his  account  simply  proves  that  he  was  able 
to  convince  some  other  person  of  his  financial  sound- 
ness. The  man's  failure  showed  that  my  diagnosis 
was  sound,  and  that  I  was  not  unduly  conservative. 

It  might  seem  from  what  has  already  been  said 
that  the  attitude  of  the  credit  man  is  naturally  one 
of  practical  opposition  to  the  salesman.  The  tend- 
ency is  in  that  direction,  but  the  salesman's  side  of 
the  problem  should  never  be  lost  sight  of.  I  am 
inclined  to  believe  that,  as  a  general  rule,  the  credit 
man  has  too  little  rather  than  too  much  fear  of 
losing  a  good  customer.  Certainly  a  stiff,  arbitrary 
and  unyielding  credit  man  can  easily  demoralize  the 
selling  department,  and  make  the  salesman  feel  that 
it  is  hardly  worth  his  while  to  make  special  effort 

173 


THE   MAKING   OF  A   MERCHANT 

to  get  a  new  customer  because  of  the  likelihood  that 
he  will  not  pass  muster  at  the  credit  desk.  There  is 
a  reasonable  conservatism  in  keeping  with  the  spirit 
of  progress  and  not  opposed  to  taking  a  fair  risk, 
and  when  this  kind  of  moderation  obtains  in  a  credit 
department  the  salesmen  are  likely  to  understand 
its  soundness  and  make  little  or  no  complaint.  It 
is  when  the  rulings  of  the  credit  man  become 
exacting  that  it  looks  from  the  viewpoint  of  the 
salesman  as  if  he  were  trying  to  keep  away  all 
customers  instead  of  simply  ruling  out  those  that 
are  not  up  to  a  fair  standard  of  reliability.  Then 
the  salesmen  are  plunged  into  discouragement  and 
charge  their  sorrows  to  the  credit  department. 

Probably  no  young  man  takes  a  responsible  credit 
position  without  asking  himself:  "By  what  kind 
of  a  scheme  am  I  most  likely  to  be  victimized?" 
The  most  common  method  of  beating  the  credit 
man  is  that  of  "working"  several  cities  at  the  same 
time  on  the  same  basis  of  credit.  Suppose  the  mer- 
chant in  question  to  be  located  in  a  small  town  in 
the  southern  part  of  Illinois,  near  the  Mississippi 
River.  He  comes  to  Chicago  and  says  that  he  has 
decided  to  buy  all  his  goods  here  because  he  can  get 
better  prices.  His  statement  shows  that  he  has 
$4,000  in  the  local  bank.  As  he  only  wishes  for 
a  credit  of  $3,000  and  a  time  limit  of  sixty  days, 

174 


THE   MAKING   OF   A    MERCHANT 

the  way  seems  very  clear,  particularly  as  the  bank 
verifies  his  statement  regarding  the  condition  of  his 
banking  account.  The  credit  is  given  and  the  cus- 
tomer repeats  this  operation  in  two  or  three  other 
cities  not  too  far  distant  from  his  town.  Then  he 
turns  about  and  sells  out  the  goods  by  sensational 
methods  and  flees  with  the  money.  Usually  this 
is  soon  after  he  has  started  in  business. 

A  remedy  against  this  kind  of  a  game  is  to  keep 
close  track  of  every  customer.  If  he  appears  to  be 
piling  up  a  very  heavy  stock  of  goods,  and  resorts 
to  "catch  tricks"  in  order  to  sell  a  large  line  of 
goods  in  a  short  time,  seeming  to  be  indifferent  to 
the  matter  of  prices,  it  is  well  to  tighten  the  lines 
about  him  and  double  the  diligence  with  which  he 
is  watched.  But  here  is  where  the  faculty  to  judge 
of  a  man's  honesty  by  his  bearing  and  appearance 
come  into  play.  With  this  intuition,  backed  by  good 
ability  as  an  interviewer  and  the  power  to  analyze 
information  after  it  is  procured,  the  young  credit 
man  may  reasonably  hope  to  avoid  any  serious 
experiences  with  deliberate  confidence  men  and 
rascals. 

A  credit  well  made  is  an  account  collected.  Or, 
to  vary  the  phrase,  the  necessity  of  making  a  forced 
collection  implies  a  fault  in  fixing  the  credit  in  the 
first  place.  Of  course  every  credit  man,  no  matter 

175 


THE   MAKING   OF   A    MERCHANT 

how  skillful,  has  more  or  less  of  these  errors  to 
revise,  but  he  should  always  regard  them  as  errors 
and  deal  with  them  accordingly,  carefully  analyzing 
all  their  conditions  with  a  view  to  mastering  the 
secret  of  his  original  misjudgment,  learning  his 
lessons  from  his  mistakes  so  that  he  may  prevent 
their  future  recurrence. 

If  he  exercises  a  constant  and  sensitive  scrutiny 
of  the  accounts  of  his  house,  keeps  closely  in  touch 
with  all  the  conditions  which  surround  his  cus- 
tomers and  affect  their  business,  he  will  generally  be 
able  to  detect  the  symptoms  of  unsteadiness  in  the 
affairs  of  any  of  his  patrons.  Then  is  the  time  when 
his  ability  as  a  letter  writer  and  a  judge  of  human 
nature  must  be  called  into  action.  Each  individual 
case  will  demand  individual  treatment,  and  the  best 
results  cannot  be  obtained  through  an  effort  to 
follow  out  arbitrary  rules. 

The  attitude  of  the  credit  man  should  always  be 
independent  of  the  financial  exigencies  of  his  house. 
In  other  words,  the  customer  should  be  treated  with 
on  the  basis  that  when  an  account  is  due  it  should 
be  paid,  whether  the  house  needs  the  money  or  not. 
That  part  of  the  problem  should  be  always  con- 
sidered to  be  above  discussion.  The  moment  the 
money  is  due  it  belongs  to  the  house  and  not  to 
the  customer,  and  any  extension  of  time  or  qualifica- 


THE   MAKING  OF  A   MERCHANT 

tion  of  the  terms  of  payment  should  be  held  by 
the  patron,  as  wdl  as  by  the  house,  to  be  a  special 
dispensation  granted  as  a  favor  and  not  by 
obligation. 

The  manner  in  which  a  customer  makes  his  pay- 
ments settles  his  standing  in  the  commercial  world. 
If  he  does  not  think  for  himself,  but  depends  upon 
the  credit  man  to  remind  him  that  his  account  is 
due,  he  must  expect  to  receive  the  undesirable  classi- 
fication, "slow."  On  the  other  hand,  if  he  invariably 
takes  action  of  his  own  accord,  and  a  few  days  in 
advance  of  the  last  moment  when  his  remittance 
is  due,  he  is  almost  certain  to  retain  his  rating 
among  the  "prompt"  patrons.  And  this  need  not 
be  taken  to  infer  that  he  must  always  settle  his 
account  in  full  and  never  ask  an  extension.  Quite 
the  contrary,  he  may  more  than  once  make  such 
a  request  without  incurring  the  likelihood  of  being 
dropped  into  the  "slow"  class.  Country  merchants 
are  prone  to  forget  that  a  partial  payment,  if  made 
promptly,  will  often  answer  the  same  purpose  as 
a  full  payment  so  far  as  keeping  intact  full  con- 
fidence in  his  moral  as  well  as  financial  responsi- 
bility. His  prompt  action  in  sending  a  portion  of 
the  amount  due  with  a  concise  and  straightforward 
explanation  of  the  conditions  which  prevented  him 
from  remitting  in  full  is  likely  to  be  accepted  as 

177 


THE   MAKING  OF  A  MERCHANT 

proof  of  his  good  intentions  and  general 
"squareness." 

Correspondence  with  customers  who  do  not  dis- 
play this  promptness  is  a  delicate  matter  and  must 
be  handled  with  discrimination  and  judgment,  the 
point  always  to  be  made,  and  impressed  with  more 
or  less  vigor  upon  the  mind  of  the  customer,  being 
that  a  certain  amount  of  money  is  due  the  house, 
and  should  either  be  paid  or  adjusted  in  a  manner 
satisfactory  to  the  credit  man. 

There  is  quite  an  extensive  class  of  customers 
who  are  deservedly  rated  as  "good,"  but  who  rely 
upon  the  house  to  do  a  certain  amount  of  nudging. 
Many  of  this  class  even  expect  to  be  regularly 
drawn  on,  through  the  banks,  meeting  the  drafts 
promptly.  In  cases  of  this  kind,  however,  the  credit 
man  must  take  good  care  not  to  make  the  amount 
of  any  draft  greater  than  his  customer  may  reason- 
ably be  expected  to  meet.  To  gauge  the  size  of 
the  drafts  and  their  frequency  so  as  to  meet  the 
exigencies  of  every  individual  case  is  a  nice  task 
which  calls  for  the  exercise  of  sound  judgment  on 
the  part  of  the  credit  man.  One  broad  principle, 
however,  may  be  laid  down  with  regard  to  the 
handling  of  slow  customers:  If  such  a  patron  is 
known  to  be  good  and  responsible  keep  him  in  the 
habit  of  making  frequent  payments,  no  matter  how 

178 


THE   MAKING   OF   A   MERCHANT 

small  these  may  be,  provided,  of  course,  they  do  not 
fall  below  the  limit  of  reason. 

Before  leaving  the  question  of  correspondence 
and  its  relation  to  a,  sound  credit,  a  word  with 
regard  to  the  mailing  of  remittances  may  be  per- 
mitted. It  is  a  rule  of  the  house  of  Marshall  Field 
&  Company  to  send  out  all  remittances  so  that  each 
will  be  certain  to  reach  its  destination  a  trifle  before 
the  date  on  which  will  occur  the  most  advantageous 
moment  for  the  payment  of  the  bill  which  the  draft 
is  to  cover.  In  other  words,  the  money  for  every 
obligation  is  always  in  the  creditor's  hands  on  the 
day  when  it  will  secure  the  most  satisfactory  dis- 
count. This  means  that  the  mail  schedules,  both 
foreign  and  domestic,  are  carefully  scrutinized  and 
constantly  revised,  so  that  it  may  be  instantly  known 
how  long  a  time  will  be  required  for  a  letter  to 
reach  any  city  of  America,  Europe  or  other  foreign 
land. 

If  this  rule  were  commonly  followed  by  country 
merchants,  the  burdens  of  the  credit  man  would 
be  reduced  to  a  minimum,  for  the  habit  is  general 
on  the  part  of  customers,  who  are  of  the  best  class, 
of  sending  remittances  on  the  day  when  they  are 
due,  instead  of  allowing  sufficient  margin  of  time 
to  permit  the  payments  to  reach  their  destination 
promptly  at  maturity.  This  frequently  involves  a 

179 


THE   MAKING  OF  A   MERCHANT 

dispute  regarding  discounts,  and  entails  not  a  little 
annoyance  to  all  parties  concerned. 

When,  finally,  a  customer  fails  to  respond  to 
patient  and  skillful  coaxing,  crowding  and  manipu- 
lating by  correspondence,  the  next  step  taken  by  the 
credit  man  is  generally  that  of  sending  a  trusted 
lieutenant  to  the  town  in  which  the  customer  is 
located,  for  the  purpose  of  carefully  looking  the 
ground  over.  This  is  decidedly  an  important 
mission,  and  always  affords  opportunity  for  the 
young  credit  man  holding  a  subordinate  position  in 
the  department  to  win  his  spurs.  Before  taking  his 
departure  he  will  thoroughly  digest  all  the  records 
which  may  throw  light  upon  the  relationship 
between  the  customer  and  the  house.  His 
researches  will  begin  with  the  statement  and  other 
documents  upon  which  the  customer  obtained  his 
original  credit,  and  will  include  a  survey  of  all 
subsequent  correspondence  calculated  to  enlighten 
him  on  the  character  of  the  customer  and  the  con- 
dition of  his  business. 

The  outgoing  missionary  of  the  credit  depart- 
ment will  carry  with  him  abstracts  from  the 
information  record,  and  will  be  prepared  to  make 
a  documentary  showing  on  all  essential  points  of  the 
account  likely  to  be  questioned.  Arriving  at  his 
destination,  he  will  undoubtedly  find  it  advisable 

180 


THE  MAKING  OF  A  MERCHANT 

first  to  make  a  general  survey  of  the  town,  to  see 
if  his  customer  is  in  the  best  location  to  command 
trade,  to  observe  how  he  displays  his  goods,  and 
to  learn  how  he  stands  with  the  most  substantial 
men  in  his  community.  If  the  credit  department  of 
the  house  is  well  conducted  it  will  be  in  touch  with 
a  good  lawyer  in  the  town,  and — what  is,  perhaps, 
still  more  important — will  know  the  name  of  any 
local  attorney  who  is  regarded  as  tricky  or  unre- 
liable, if  the  place  is  unfortunate  enough  to  contain 
a  lawyer  of  this  description.  Should  he  discover 
that  such  an  attorney  has  been  retained  by  the 
delinquent  customer,  or  is  generally  employed  by 
him,  the  young  credit  man  is  usually  justified  in  con- 
cluding that  his  patron  must  be  carefully  watched. 
On  the  other  hand,  if  he  finds  the  customer  has  no 
lawyer  and  shows  no  inclination  to  retain  one,  this 
condition  is  decidedly  in  favor  of  the  local  merchant, 
and  is  generally  accepted  as  an  indication  of  his 
honesty  and  good  intentions.  Sometimes,  and  in 
fact  frequently,  it  is  wholly  unadvisable  for  the 
representative  of  the  credit  department  to  inform 
the  country  merchant  that  the  misgivings  of  the 
house  have  caused  it  to  send  its  agent  on  a  special 
trip  to  investigate  the  affairs  of  its  debtor.  At 
other  times  it  is  quite  as  necessary  to  let  the  cus- 
tomer know  at  once  that  the  collector  is  in  town 

181 


THE   MAKING   OF   A   MERCHANT 

expressly  to  adjust  the  account  of  the  local  mer- 
chant, and  does  not  propose,  for  an  instant,  to  leave 
until  he  has  the  money  or  satisfactory  securities  in 
settlement  of  the  amount  due. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  former  class  of  situations 
with  which  the  collector  is  frequently  confronted 
I  recall  a  case  which  came  to  me  early  in  my  expe- 
rience. I  was  sent  to  a  country  town  to  investigate 
the  condition  of  a  merchant  who  had  fallen  into  the 
habit  of  slow  payments.  From  the  start  I  pro- 
ceeded cautiously.  I  found  his  standing  in  the 
community  was  excellent  and  his  character  good, 
although  he  was  well  advanced  in  life.  He  had  an 
excellent  stock  of  goods  but  owed  for  its  full  value, 
and  had  no  outside  property.  The  problem  which 
then  confronted  me  was  so  to  handle  this  customer 
as  to  allow  him  to  realize  the  full  worth  of  his 
goods.  To  have  alarmed  him  or  any  of  his  other 
creditors  would  have  been  bad  judgment  and 
brought  about  the  failure  of  my  plans,  as  I  realized 
he  must  be  let  alone  and  permitted  to  work  out  his 
salvation  and  do  it  hopefully.  Therefore  I  went 
home  and  began  to  draw  on  him,  at  frequent 
intervals,  for  very  small  amounts.  These  demands 
were  always  promptly  met,  and  in  the  course  of  a 
short  time  his  indebtedness  was  entirely  cleared. 

More  than  once  I  have  been  able  to  make  a  fast 
182 


THE   MAKING   OF   A   MERCHANT 

friend  of  a  substantial  country  merchant  who  was 
honest,  solvent  and  capable  by  lending  him  money 
to  meet  his  obligations  with  other  houses,  and  then 
helping  him  to  reduce  his  stock  and  his  indebtedness 
to  us,  thereby  putting  himself  on  a  sound  financial 
basis. 

Not  infrequently  the  credit  man  finds  himself  in 
charge  of  the  entire  affairs  of  his  customer,  acting  to 
all  practical  purposes  as  a  trustee  for  him.  Once 
a  customer  who  had  been  burned  out,  and  owed 
three  times  the  amount  of  his  insurance,  assigned 
all  the  latter  to  me  with  a  request  that  I  do  the  best 
I  could  for  him  in  the  adjustment  of  his  affairs. 
The  insurance  was  collected  and  his  creditors 
accepted  a  percentage  settlement.  This  was  accom- 
plished without  attaching  any  odium  to  his  standing, 
and  leaving  in  his  hands  $1,000  with  which  to  make 
a  fresh  business  start.  He  is  now  a  prosperous 
merchant  and  one  of  the  most  loyal  customers  of 
the  house  to  which  he  intrusted  the  management 
of  his  affairs  at  a  time  of  misfortune.  One  year 
after  the  settlement  had  been  made  a  neighboring 
merchant  was  also  burned  out  and,  on  the  advice 
of  the  man  whom  I  had  assisted,  this  second  un- 
fortunate came  to  me  and  asked  for  the  same  kind 
of  aid.  His  request  was  complied  with,  and  he 
now  consults  me  with  regard  to  almost  every  im- 

183 


THE   MAKING  OF   A   MERCHANT 

portant  move  which  he  contemplates.  This  instance 
is  sufficient  to  show  that  the  wise  handling  of  a 
customer  under  misfortune  is  likely  to  make  him  a 
lifelong  and  devoted  patron  of  the  house. 

Quite  another  set  of  faculties  is  called  into  opera- 
tion when  the  credit  man  finds  that  he  has  to  deal 
with  a  customer  who  is  dishonest  and  intends  to 
defraud  the  house.  Instead  of  finding  himself  in 
the  attitude  of  friend,  counselor  or  trustee,  he  dis- 
covers that  he  is  suddenly  called  upon  to  perform 
the  functions  of  a  detective.  The  phases  of  dis- 
honesty and  sharp  practice  with  which  he  has  to 
deal  are  varied  and  sometimes  picturesque  and  sensa- 
tional. Generally,  the  credit  man  is  fairly  well  con- 
tent to  outwit  the  dishonest  customer  and  guard 
the  house  against  loss.  The  difficulty  of  obtaining 
a  conviction  for  fraud  practiced  upon  the  wholesale 
merchant  has  been  found  so  great  that  he  has 
become  wearied  in  the  attempt  to  make  the  "way 
of  the  transgressor  hard."  How  difficult  it  is  to 
secure  adequate  punishment  for  obtaining  goods 
under  false  pretenses,  or  for  otherwise  victimizing 
the  wholesale  house,  is  well  illustrated  by  an  expe- 
rience which  occurred  in  the  seventies,  when  the 
bankruptcy  act,  repealed  in  1878,  was  in  force. 
Although  there  are  many  points  of  difference 
between  that  law  and  the  one  now  in  force,  they 

184 


THE   MAKING   OF   A   MERCHANT 

are  certainly  similar  in  hedging  the  wholesaler  about 
with  a  multitude  of  obstacles  to  the  collection  of 
his  more  desperate  accounts. 

A  merchant  in  one  of  the  larger  provincial  cities 
of  Illinois  went  into  bankruptcy  owing  us  about 
$6,000.  He  had  failed  two  or  three  times  before 
that  and  each  repetition  had  appeared  to  add  mate- 
rially to  his  business  resources.  Believing  that  he 
was  acting  with  dishonesty,  detectives  were  em- 
ployed with  the  result  that  the  secret  of  his  small 
assets  and  heavy  liabilities  was  discovered.  In 
warehouses  and  other  buildings  not  used  for  store 
purposes  were  unearthed  several  thousand  dollars' 
worth  of  goods  which  this  rascally  merchant  had 
secreted  before  going  into  bankruptcy,  knowing 
that  after  his  assignment  had  been  put  through  the 
United  States  Court,  his  affairs  wound  up  by  that 
authority,  and  all  his  obligations  released,  he  could 
safely  begin  to  realize  upon  his  hidden  store  of 
goods. 

The  goods  were  seized  by  the  United  States  mar- 
shal of  that  district  and  loaded  upon  trucks,  a 
caravan  of  which  were  hauled  through  the  streets 
of  the  town  as  an  object-lesson  to  the  public.  Very 
naturally  the  merchants  of  that  city  were  much  im- 
pressed by  this  strange  spectacle  and  were  highly 
indignant  at  their  dishonest  associate,  who  had 

185 


THE   MAKING  OF  A   MERCHANT 

brought  disgrace  upon  the  trading  fraternity  of 
their  city. 

It  would  seem  that  conviction  and  punishment 
would  be  the  quick  and  inevitable  result  from  so 
glaring  and  well-proven  a  case  of  fraudulent  con- 
cealment of  assets.  Experience,  however,  taught  us 
differently.  After  a  hard-fought  trial,  conviction 
was  secured,  but  only  to  be  followed  immediately 
by  the  granting  of  a  new  trial.  This  was  more 
bitterly  contested  than  the  first,  and  also  resulted 
in  conviction.  Then  the  convicted  man  was  taken 
desperately  ill  and  an  application  was  made  to  the 
court  for  a  temporary  suspension  of  the  sentence. 
These  circumstances  naturally  excited  considerable 
sympathy  for  the  unfortunate  transgressor,  and  the 
local  feeling  against  him  was  considerably  softened 
as  news  from  his  bedside  gave  daily  indication  that 
he  would  soon  be  carried  either  to  the  grave  or  the 
penitentiary.  After  a  few  days  of  protracted  sus- 
pense the  announcement  came  that  the  man  had 
tasted  "the  mercy  of  death."  His  funeral  was  held 
the  second  day  following,  and  in  the  course  of  a 
few  weeks  his  estate,  which  seemed  suddenly  to 
have  swelled  to  considerable  proportions,  was  settled 
and  disbursed. 

Not  long  afterward  the  "widow"  went  to  Europe, 
where  she  is  now  enjoying  the  fruits  of  her  hus- 

186 


THE   MAKING   OF   A   MERCHANT 

band's  rascality  along  with  him — for  the  convicted 
man  is  today  in  excellent  health,  or  at  least  was  so 
a  short  time  since.  His  sickness,  death  and  funeral 
were  only  the  finest  and  finishing  touches  in  the  part 
which  he  played. 

The  type  of  man  on  whom  the  credit  man  is  dis- 
posed to  take  the  greatest  chances  is  the  young 
fellow  who  has  entered  the  country  store  as  a  mere 
boy  when  just  able  to  drive  the  delivery  wagon 
and  do  the  lighter  tasks.  He  develops  an  aptitude 
for  trade,  becomes  thoroughly  and  practically 
familiar  with  every  detail  of  the  business,  and  is 
finally  promoted  to  the  position  of  head  clerk,  in 
which  capacity  he  is  intrusted  with  the  responsibility 
of  buying  from  the  traveling  salesman  and  occasion- 
ally visiting  the  wholesale  house  in  the  city  for  the 
purchase  of  special  and  more  expensive  invoices. 
Finally  he  reaches  the  point  where  his  employer 
declines  to  advance  his  salary  to  a  higher  figure 
and  the  young  man  experiences  an  increasing  dis- 
satisfaction with  the  pay  he  is  receiving.  Then 
comes  the  temptation  to  branch  out  into  business 
for  himself,  and.  he  at  length  determines  to  risk 
the  money  which  has  been  carefully  put  away  from 
his  income. 

This  is  the  kind  of  tradesman  who  at  once  appeals 


THE   MAKING  OF   A   MERCHANT 

to  the  confidence  of  the  maker  of  credits,  and  for 
the  best  of  reasons!  More  than  once  I  have  seen 
a  young  man  of  this  kind  start  in  with  a  capital  of 
not  more  than  $1,500,  and,  buying  from  hand  to 
mouth,  change  places,  in  the  course  of  a  very  few 
years,  with  the  older  merchant  having  a  capital  of 
$15,000  and  the  indifference  and  taciturn  inde- 
pendence so  frequently  inspired  by  the  possession 
of  property.  The  young  man  was  tactful,  alert, 
energetic,  and  bent  on  pleasing  every  customer  who 
could  be  drawn  inside  his  store.  The  public,  quick 
to  appreciate  this  attitude,  yielded  to  the  common 
human  instinct  of  a  desire  to  "help  the  boy  along." 
As  a  result,  the  inattentive  and  unyielding  veteran 
in  trade  woke  up  to  find  that  his  agile  and  obliging 
young  competitor  had  captured  the  patronage  of 
the  community  and  no  longer  needed  to  buy  from 
hand  to  mouth,  as  he  did  when  fresh  from  his 
clerkship. 

The  credit  man  was  able  to  foresee  this  result  as 
inevitable  from  the  beginning  and  to  govern  himself 
accordingly,  giving  the  limit  of  credit  to  the  man 
who  had  youth,  energy,  tact  and  a  future  on  his 
side — all  because  the  young  clerk  offered  the 
greatest  incentive  to  this  confidence  by  reason  of 
the  fact  that  he  promised  to  remain  for  years  a  safe, 

188 


THE   MAKING  OF  A   MERCHANT 

growing  and  profitable  customer,  whereas  the 
venerable  competitor  could  only  continue  in  busi- 
ness a  few  years  at  best,  and  that  with  a  constantly 
contracting  trade, 


189 


CHAPTER   XI 
REWARDS  AND  HUMORS  OF  THE  CREDIT  DESK 

TO  show  for  his  year's  work  a  very  small  per- 
centage of  loss  on  a  large  volume  of  business 
is,  of  course,  the  most  substantial  satisfaction  that 
comes  to  the  credit  man.  There  is  no  escaping  the 
argument  presented  by  figures  of  this  kind.  They 
prove  by  incontrovertible  evidence  that  the  work  of 
the  credit  man  has  been  discharged  with  sound  con- 
servatism and  also  in  the  broad  and  progressive 
spirit  of  real  commercial  courage. 

While  it  is  true  that  a  shrinkage  in  the  total 
volume  of  business  transacted  might  not  in  the 
least  reflect  upon  the  discernment  of  the  credit  man, 
it  is  equally  certain  that  the  manner  in  which  the 
credits  are  handled  is  likely  to  affect  the  total  of 
business  done.  If  general  conditions  were  favorable 
to  a  good  trade  and  still  the  sales  were  not  what 
they  should  have  been,  I  should  be  inclined  to  ask 
if  the  credit  man  were  not  over-timid  and  conserva- 
tive; and  the  smaller  the  percentage  of  loss  shown 
the  more  would  I  be  disposed  to  feel  that  at  least 

190 


THE   MAKING   OF   A    MERCHANT 

a  portion  of  the  shrinkage  might  be  due  to  a  policy 
of  contraction  and  fearfulness  in  making  credits. 

Extreme  severity  and  ultra  conservatism  in  the 
credit  department  are  likely  to  drive  away  cus- 
tomers, and,  for  this  reason,  the  work  of  a  credit 
man  is  not  to  be  judged  wholly  on  the  percentage 
of  loss,  but  the  volume  of  business  transacted  must 
also  be  taken  into  consideration.  There  is,  how- 
ever, no  chance  to  challenge  the  ability  of  the  credit 
man  when  both  the  percentage  of  loss  and  the 
volume  of  sales  are  satisfactory. 

As  to  what  constitutes  a  low  percentage  of  loss 
there  may  be  a  considerable  difference  of  opinion. 
If  the  house  loses  only  one-fifth  of  one  per  cent  of 
its  entire  business  the  credit  man  is  no  doubt  to 
be  congratulated,  but  if  he  has  kept  the  losses  down 
to  one-tenth  of  one  per  cent  and  the  total  of  sales 
has  been  of  normal  magnitude  he  is  fairly  entitled 
to  feel  that  he  has  earned  the  thanks  and  substantial 
appreciation  of  his  house.  One  per  cent,  or  greater, 
of  loss  is  decidedly  bad,  and  there  should  be  uneasi- 
ness in  the  credit  department  when,  in  ordinary 
times,  this  figure  is  reached. 

There  are,  however,  other  satisfactions  than  those 
arising  from  the  proofs  that  the  business  of  the 
credit  department  has  been  conducted  on  a  safe, 
conservative  and  progressive  basis.  Opportunities 

191 


THE   MAKING  OF  A   MERCHANT 

to  give  help  of  the  most  practical  kind  are  con- 
stantly presented  to  the  credit  man  It  is  a  uni- 
versally recognized  principle  of  ethics  that  he 
bestows  the  best  charity  who  helps  a  man  to  help 
himself.  But  he  must  indeed  be  generously  endowed 
with  the  spirit  of  helpfulness  who  carries  this  kind 
of  work  beyond  the  lines  which  his  own  interests 
would  suggest,  for  he  will  often  look  for  apprecia- 
tion and  fail  to  find  it.  On  the  other  hand,  he  some- 
times meets  with  the  heartiest  gratitude. 

As  a  rule,  the  experiences  of  a  credit  desk  are 
commonplace  and  humdrum,  but  occasionally  a 
startling  episode  will  break  this  monotony  with  a 
touch  of  the  romantic,  perhaps  of  the  sensational. 
The  most  picturesque  and  exciting  experience  asso- 
ciated with  thirty  years'  service  at  the  credit  desk 
hangs  upon  a  faculty  for  retaining  the  memory  of 
a  face.  Though  the  ability  to  remember  and  cor- 
rectly associate  faces  is  certainly  capable  of  cultiva- 
tion, it  must  be  largely  a  natural  gift.  The  exercise 
of  this  faculty  has  afforded  me,  from  boyhood,  an 
unfailing  source  of  entertainment  and  has  been  a 
constant  and  valuable  aid. 

One  of  my  earliest  duties  in  connection  with  the 
credit  department  was  to  make  regular  weekly  visits 
to  the  store  of  a  certain  Clark  Street  firm  to  collect 
a  small  sum.  Sometimes  the  amount  of  my  collec 

192 


THE   MAKING   OF  A    MERCHANT 

tion  reached  as  high  as  one  hundred  dollars,  but 
more  frequently  it  was  fifty  dollars,  or  twenty-five 
dollars.  The  money  was  always  handed  me  by  the 
same  man,  a  member  of  the  firm,  and  consequently 
I  became  very  familiar  with  his  face.  One  day  I 
was  told  that  I  need  not  make  my  customary  trip 
as  the  house  had  gone  to  the  wall,  and  its  proprietors 
had  left  for  parts  unknown  with  all  the  ready  cash 
they  could  raise. 

About  twelve  years  later  a  venerable  countryman 
came  to  my  desk,  said  that  his  name  was  Smith, 
and  that  he  had  a  store  in  a  Missouri  town.  The 
object  of  his  call  was  to  establish  a  line  of  credit 
and  make  a  substantial  addition  to  his  stock  of 
goods.  He  furnished  references  and  went  through 
the  usual  interview  in  the  quiet  but  composed 
manner  of  a  country  merchant  who  has  confidence 
in  the  outcome  of  his  examination  at  the  credit  desk. 
After  his  references  had  been  investigated  he  again 
made  his  appearance,  and  my  second  view  of  him 
confirmed  the  suspicion  which  had  come  to  me. 
Looking  him  squarely  in  the  face  I  said  in  quiet 
tones:  "Your  name  is  not  Smith;  it  is  Jacob 
Blank.  You  ran  away  from  Clark  Street  twelve 
years  ago."  Instantly  the  face  of  the  man  turned 
ashen,  his  legs  began  to  shake  under  him,  and  before 
any  of  us  could  reach  him  he  fell  to  the  floor  in 

193 


THE   MAKING   OF  A   MERCHANT 

a  state  of  absolute  collapse.  Although  his  indebted- 
ness had  been  more  than  outlawed,  the  shock  of 
being  so  suddenly  confronted  with  his  guilt  and 
deception  utterly  unnerved  him.  The  episode  was 
stirring  and  dramatic,  and  made  a  strong  im- 
pression upon  all  who  witnessed  it. 

Although  the  credit  man  is  naturally  held  to  be 
worldly-wise  and  keen  in  the  detection  of  fraud, 
his  reputation  does  not  protect  him  from  numerous 
opportunities  to  demonstrate  his  ability  in  scenting 
a  bold  and  cunning  confidence  game.  It  might  be 
supposed  that  a  sharper  would  be  careful  to  avoid 
the  very  class  of  men  whose  daily  work  is  to  read, 
character,  to  sift  the  truth  from  plausible  but  mis- 
leading statements  and  to  detect  commercial  dis- 
honesty of  every  sort;  but  the  fraternity  of  con- 
fidence men  is  no  respecter  of  persons,  and,  perhaps, 
the  very  fact  that  the  credit  man  is  held  to  be  more 
difficult  to  deceive  than  the  ordinary  individual 
makes  the  attempt  to  catch  him  more  alluring. 

One  of  the  boldest  and  cleverest  experiments  in 
this  line  that  has  come  under  my  personal  observa- 
tion was  as  follows :  A  plain,  substantial-appearing 
man,  quite  the  type  of  the  stalwart,  pushing  mer- 
chant of  the  far  West,  came  to  the  desk  and  stated 
that  he  was  buying  a  stock  of  goods  for  a  store 
which  he  was  about  to  open  in  Albuquerque,  New 

IQ4 


THE   MAKING   OF   A    MERCHANT 

Mexico.  He  was  going  to  pay  cash,  so  he  informed 
us,  for  all  he  bought,  but  wished  to  establish  a  line 
of  credit  for  the  future.  Shortly  after  he  had  begun 
buying  he  had  us  cash  a  draft  for  fifty  dollars, 
drawn  by  a  bank  in  Atchison,  Kansas,  on  a  New 
York  bank.  The  paper  was  immediately  banked 
and  went  through  all  right.  When  his  buying  was 
finished  his  bill  amounted  to  $3,000  and  he  pre- 
sented a  draft  identical  with  that  which  had  been 
cashed  for  him  several  days  previous,  with  the  ex- 
ception that  it  was  drawn  for  $13,000.  While  he 
was  waiting  at  my  desk  for  the  money  the  cashier 
telegraphed  the  New  York  bank  on  which  the  ex- 
change was  drawn,  to  know  if  it  were  good.  Imme- 
diately the  answer  came  back  that  it  was  not. 

When  the  customer  was  informed  of  the  message 
he  appeared  just  about  as  badly  shaken  up  as  a 
country  merchant  would  have  been  under  the  cir- 
cumstances. Without  a  moment's  hesitation  he 
asked  for  pen  and  paper  and  wrote  a  letter  to  the 
Atchison  bank,  demanding  an  immediate  explana- 
tion This  epistle  he  showed  to  me,  inclosed  the 
draft,  sealed  the  envelope,  and  then  handed  it  to  me 
with  the  request  that  I  have  it  go  out  with  my  mail. 
He  was  in  no  hurry  to  get  away,  but  hung  about 
the  desk  eager  to  go  over  the  whole  affair  with  end- 
less variations  of  detail.  This  was  the  cleverest 

195 


THE   MAKING   OF  A   MERCHANT 

feature  of  the  part  he  was  playing,  for  the  honest 
country  merchant,  in  a  similar  predicament,  would 
have  done  precisely  this,  discussing  every  possible 
phase  and  detail,  and  treading  a  hopeless  circle  of 
repetitions  and  speculations.  He  hung  about  until 
the  lunch  hour,  .and  I  was  glad  to  -see  him  go, 
but  certain  that  he  would  return  to  give  me  the 
results  of  his  latest  cogitations  on  the  subject  of  the 
repudiated  draft.  But  after  lunch  he  came  not! 
Instead,  he  was  making  the  best  possible  time  in 
quite  another  direction.  Of  course,  the  mistake  of 
the  house  was  in  not  telegraphing  to  the  bank  in 
Atchison  asking  if  it  had  sold  the  exchange  offered. 
A  reply  in  the  negative  would  at  once  have 
established  the  fraudulency  of  the  paper  and  we 
should  have  caused  the  arrest  of  the  sharper.  The 
fact  that  we  had  already  found  one  draft  offered 
by  this  man,  and  drawn  between  the  same  banks, 
to  be  perfectly  good  was  well  calculated  to  allay 
suspicion,  and  every  phase  of  the  role  which  the 
forger  played  was  so  cleverly  sustained  that  the 
deception  was  complete.  His  ingenuous  coup  of 
sending  the  check  to  the  Atchison  bank  and  thereby 
gaining  time  enough  in  which  to  escape  being 
arrested  or  "spotted"  by  detectives  was  a  fine  and 
masterful  stroke. 

Later,  every  detail  by  which  he  had  led  up  to 
196 


THE   MAKING   OF  A   MERCHANT 

the  finale  was  brought  to  light.  His  plan  of  cam- 
paign was  this :  He  had  bought  the  fifty-dollar  draft 
from  the  Atchison  bank  and  found  the  name  of  a 
Chicago  lithographer  imprinted  in  small  type  in  the 
corner.  This  furnished  him  his  basis  upon  which 
to  work.  Arriving  in  this  city,  he  went  at  once 
to  that  lithographer's,  introduced  himself  as  one  of 
the  officials  of  the  Atchison  bank,  and  gave  order 
for  the  printing  of  a  new  book  of  drafts  absolutely 
identical  in  tint  with  the  one  which  he  displayed. 
Also,  he  ordered  a  stamp  similar  to  the  one  which 
had  been  used  on  his  draft,  and  a  variety  of  bank 
stationery.  He  instructed  the  lithographing  house 
to  send  the  book  of  drafts  and  the  stamp  to  his 
hotel,  but  to  forward  the  other  stationery,  by  freight, 
to  the  bank.  After  he  had  taken  out  as  many 
blanks  as  he  needed  to  perfect  his  forged  draft  for 
$13,000  he  sent  the  book  and  stamp  back  to  the 
lithographers  with  the  statement  that  he  had 
changed  his  mind  and  decided  to  have  those  articles 
shipped  with  the  stationery,  and  that  he  had  torn 
from  the  book  as  many  blanks  as  he  would  need 
until  his  return  home.  Nothing  could  have  been 
more  complete  or  artistic  than  the  foundation  which 
he  laid  for  the  final  stroke.  Fortunately,  however, 
in  the  critical  part  of  his  campaign  he  failed — but 
managed  to  slip  through  the  fingers  of  the  law. 

IQ7 


THE   MAKING   OF   A    MERCHANT 

Of  course  the  goods  which  he  had  bought  of  us 
had  not  been  shipped  to  "him,  and  we  really  lost 
nothing  by  the  transaction  save  the  time  of  the 
salesman.  And  the  experience  was  certainly  an 
entertaining  one. 

This  anecdote  should  not,  however,  be  taken  to 
indicate  that  the  credit  man  finds  most  of  his  days 
enlivened  by  picturesque  incidents,  and  he  may  be 
well  content  to  have  affairs  proceed  with  monot- 
onous steadiness,  for  that  implies  that  his  duties  are 
discharged  with  uniform  success. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  examples  of  how 
a  young  credit  man  may,  by  the  exercise  of  patience, 
persistence,  courage  and  resourcefulness,  save  the 
house  from  being  robbed  of  hundreds  of  dollars, 
and  win  the  approval  of  his  employers,  was  an  expe- 
rience which  came  to  a  young  man  in  the  employ  of 
my  house.  As  this  also  shows  one  of  the  cleverest 
schemes  by  which  the  wholesaler  is  defrauded,  the 
incident  will  serve  a  useful  purpose. 

Failing  to  hear  anything  from  a  customer  in 
Decatur,  Illinois,  who  had  established  a  fair  credit 
and  bought  a  large  amount  of  merchandise,  we 
immediately  started  out  one  of  the  young  men  in 
our  credit  department.  This  assignment  seemed  to 
please  him,  and  he  took  hold  of  the  work  with  a 
keenness  and  enthusiasm  which  indicated  that  he 

198 


THE   MAKING   OF  A    MERCHANT 

would  ferret  the  matter  out  if  it  could  possibly  be 
unearthed.  At  the  very  start  he  made  the  inter- 
esting discovery  that  a  man  purporting  to  come 
from  our  house  had  rushed  into  the  freight  house, 
before  the  goods  had  been  actually  shipped,  and 
informed  the  freight  agent  that  they  should  be  sent 
to  Waterloo,  Iowa,  instead  of  to  Decatur.  This 
gave  the  young  man  his  clew,  and  he  armed  himself 
with  letters  to  the  freight  officials  and  station  agents 
of  the  various  railroads  to  which  the  trail  was  likely 
to  lead. 

At  Waterloo,  Iowa,  he  found  that  the  goods  had 
been  diverted  to  Sioux  City.  There,  for  the  time 
being,  he  apparently  "lost  the  scent"  as  the  trail 
seemed  to  vanish  into  thin  air.  A  less  determined 
and  resourceful  young  man  would,  perhaps,  have 
abandoned  the  chase  at  this  point,  but  the  myste- 
rious disappearance  of  the  goods  only  incited  the 
man  who  was  following  them  to  greater  efforts. 
With  true  detective  instinct  he  at  once  began  to 
make  inquiry  among  the  draymen,  and  found  that 
certain  of  them  had  hauled  goods  answering  the 
description  of  our  boxes  across  the  entire  city,  and 
that  the  invoice  had  been  split  into  two  separate 
shipments  and  forwarded  by  different  roads  to 
separate  destinations.  From  town  to  town  he  fol- 
lowed the  two  trails  until  they  met  in  Omaha.  At 

199 


THE   MAKING   OF  A   MERCHANT 

this  point  he  was  again  well-nigh  thrown  off  the 
scent,  but  his  perseverance  and  keenness  were  even- 
tually rewarded  by  hitting  upon  a  clew  which 
enabled  him  to  trace  the  goods  to  a  warehouse, 
where  they  had  been  hidden  away  in  evident 
security. 

It  scarcely  need  be  said  that  the  young  man  who 
did  this  work  thoroughly  established  himself  in  the 
good  graces  of  the  house  and  was  marked  for  ad- 
vancement and  large  responsibilities.  Opportunities 
of  this  kind  are  constantly  occurring  in  the  credit 
department  of  every  large  wholesale  house,  and  the 
young  man  who  has  the  energy,  courage  and 
resourcefulness  to  "wrest  victory  from  the  jaws  of 
defeat"  will  certainly  be  pushed  to  the  front. 

Occasionally,  however,  the  credit  man  meets  with 
an  instance  of  such  transparent  honesty  that  he  is 
the  one  to  be  overwhelmed.  Such  an  occurrence 
came  to  one  of  our  city  credit  men  who  had  a 
favorite  customer  named  O'Brien.  The  latter  was 
a  man  of  sterling  worth  and  admirable  force  of 
character.  He  had  been  born  in  the  atmosphere  of 
a  saloon  and  his  earliest  business  training  was  in  a 
disreputable  place  of  this  kind.  Finally,  when 
O'Brien  married  and  became  the  father  of  several 
keen  and  attractive  children,  his  eyes  were  opened 
and  he  determined  to  leave  his  old  life  behind  him 

200 


THE  MAKING  OF  A   MERCHANT 

and  bring  up  his  children  among  associations  of  a 
far  different  character  from  those  with  which  his 
childhood  and  youth  had  been  surrounded. 

In  pursuit  of  this  manly  and  progressive  policy 
he  went  into  the  general  merchandise  business  in 
the  vicinity  of  "The  Dump"  and  became  one  of  the 
most  respected  and  substantial  men  in  his  com- 
munity. And  he  was  more  jealous,  perhaps,  of  his 
standing  in  the  esteem  of  his  neighbors  than  if  he 
had  always  enjoyed  their  fullest  confidence.  All 
his  perplexities  and  troubles  were  shared  with  the 
credit  man  to  whom  I  have  referred  and  every 
important  move  had  to  be  submitted  to  the  dictum 
of  his  adviser. 

After  many  years  of  prosperity  and  influence 
O'Brien  came  to  the  credit  desk  in  a  state  of  excite- 
ment which  rendered  him  almost  incoherent.  He 
declared  that  he  was  immediately  going  to  the  store 
of  a  competitor  to  give  that  individual  a  beating 
that  would  send  him  to  the  hospital  for  the  season. 
"He's  been  telling  my  neighbors  that  I've  been  a 
liar,  a  thafe  an'  a  scoundrel,"  said  O'Brien,  "and 
it'll  be  gettin'  to  the  ears  of  the  childers  soon,  I'm 
thinkin',  unless  I  stop  his  mouth  with  my  fist." 
The  credit  man,  in  the  attempt  to  calm  and  assure 
him,  said: 

201 


THE   MAKING   OF  A    MERCHANT 

"But  why  pay  any  attention  to  his  slanders? — he 
can't  prove  them." 

"Ah!  that's  just  th'  trouble!  He  can  do  all 
that!  Didn't  he  know  me  in  the  days  when  I  had 
as  bad  a  place  as  could  be  found  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  the  Yards?" 

It  was  useless  to  argue  against  such  candor,  but 
he  was  at  last  persuaded  to  go  back  to  his  store 
and  leave  his  reputation  in  the  hands  of  his  neigh- 
bors, who  knew  the  rectitude  and  honor  of  his  daily 
life.  The  pacific  plea  of  the  credit  man  unquestion- 
ably saved  the  competitor  a  terrible  beating  and 
O'Brien  a  public  scandal.  But  the  ingenuousness  of 
his  confession  has  passed  into  the  traditions  of  the 
credit  department. 

Occasionally  the  credit  man  finds  it  expedient  to 
take  a  position  which  would  seem,  in  the  eyes  of 
the  outsider,  to  be  little  .short  of  absurd.  Not 
infrequently,  too,  this  attitude  is  a  result  of  the 
peculiarities  of  the  situation  developed  by  the  bank- 
ruptcy law.  Here  is  a  case  in  point: 

A  customer  made  an  assignment  and  then  brought 
forward  a  proposition  to  compromise  on  the  basis 
of  twenty  cents  on  the  dollar.  When  he  had  ex- 
plained his  situation  and  stated  that  all  his  other 
principal  creditors  had  agreed  to  that  adjudication, 
he  was  astounded  to  receive  the  reply :  "When  you 

202 


THE   MAKING  OF  A   MERCHANT 

get  ready  to  pay  us  one  hundred  cents  on  the  dollar, 
come  in  and  settle  your  account;  we  do  not  care 
to  compromise  it  and  prefer  to  wait  until  you  can 
pay  in  full."  In  view  of  the  fact  that  we  had  small 
confidence  in  the  honesty  of  the  man,  this  position 
might  appear  to  have  been  a  very  strange  one. 
The  result,  however,  was  very  satisfactory.  In 
order  to  secure  a  discharge  of  his  entire  indebted- 
ness and  start  into  business  again  with  a  clean  slate, 
he  came  and  paid  every  dollar  of  his  account. 

In  determining  whether  to  help  a  customer  over 
a  crisis  in  his  affairs  and  attempt  to  establish  him 
on  a  sounder  footing  many  things  must  be  taken  into 
consideration,  the  principal  ones  being  his  worthi- 
ness and  his  business  ability  and  prospects.  Credit 
means  confidence  in  both  moral  and  material  worth, 
and  the  customer  who  is  worth  nursing  must  show 
soundness  in  both  these  particulars.  He  may  be 
radically  honest  and  at  the  same  time  lack  the  ele- 
ments of  success  which  warrant  the  house  in  an 
attempt  to  help  him  over  a  hard  place.  It  must  be 
remembered  that  failure,  does  not  necessarily  imply 
an  inability  to  pay  one's  debts.  In  the  commercial 
sense  it  often  means  simply  a  failure  to  succeed, 
to  score  financial  advancement,  to  make  headway  in 
the  gain  of  trade.  Men  who  barely  manage  to 
exist  and  to  keep  their  affairs  in  a  state  of  solvency, 

203 


THE   MAKING   OF   A    MERCHANT 

while  every  year  diminishes  the  prospects  before 
them,  can  hardly  be  classed  as  other  than  failures, 
and  these  are  not  the  tradesmen  to  whom  the  credit 
man  is  justified  in  extending  the  largest  possible 
assistance.  Generally  speaking,  the  men  of  this  class 
are  well  advanced  in  years  and  entered  mercantile 
life  after  their  youth  had  been  spent  in  some  other 
pursuit. 


204 


CHAPTER    XII 
THE   STOREKEEPER'S   CREDITS   AND  COLLECTIONS 

THE  opening  of  a  new  store  in  a  community  is 
always  the  signal  for  a  transference  of  trade 
which  is  most  deceptive  to  the  proprietor  of  the  new 
establishment,  and  if  he  is  not  a  man  of  rare 
shrewdness  and  has  not  a  natural  faculty  for  credits 
he  will  be  sure  to  make  the  remark : 

"My  trade  is  good — way  beyond  my  expecta- 
tions!" 

Judging  from  surface  indications,  this  observa- 
tion is  warranted.  But  why?  Because  the  new 
store  always  gets  the  customers  who  have  accumu- 
lated debts  or  grievances  of  some  kind  with  the 
merchants  who  are  already  established,  and  who 
have  sifted  out  their  customers.  Instead  of  con- 
sidering this  sudden  influx  of  trade  as  an  omen  of 
prosperity  it  should  be  regarded  in  exactly  the 
opposite  manner,  and  so  treated.  Rightly  con- 
sidered, it  is  a  red  lantern  sign  of  "Danger  Ahead." 
These  rejections  from  the  other  and  established  mer- 
chants are  generally  shrewd  enough  to  pay  cash  for 

205 


THE   MAKING   OF  A    MERCHANT 

the  first  or  second  and  perhaps  the  third  month, 
and  then  they  begin  to  ask  for  credit.  Generally 
this  is  done  very  adroitly,  and  the  request  at  the 
start  will  be  to  allow  the  amount  to  run  "until  Satur- 
day night/'  or  until  "the  first  of  the  month."  When 
this  time  comes  the  game  of  partial  payment  will 
be  begun.  Generally  this  is  done  on  the  basis  of 
special  pleas,  alleging  sickness  or  some  phase  or 
other  of  "bad  luck." 

But  one  thing  may  be  depended  upon :  This  class 
of  customers  will  play  the  game  in  a  progressive 
ratio  and  see  that  the  balance  against  them  is  in- 
creased week  after  week  and  month  after  month. 
What  is  the  result  ? 

When  the  storekeeper  finally  wakes  up  to  the 
situation,  he  will  find  that  the  customer  has  him  to  a 
disadvantage.  "If  I  press  him  too  hard,"  reasons 
the  storekeeper,  "I  am  likely  to  lose  the  whole  ac- 
count, and  therefore  I  must  deal  gently  with  him." 

There  are  few  things  more  difficult  in  mer- 
chandising than  to  get  a  "slow  pay"  customer  to 
reduce  a  large  balance  by  gradual  payment.  In 
fact,  the  storekeeper  who  is  shrewd  enough  to 
accomplish  this  is  too  keen  to  get  into  such  a  situa- 
tion with  many  of  his  customers.  The  merchant 
who  gets  a  line  of  these  undesirable  customers  is 
under  the  necessity  of  keeping  them  carefully  in  his 

206 


THE   MAKING   OF   A    MERCHANT 

mind,  and  this,  as  a  rule,  means  that  he  must  "carry 
in  his  head"  the  balances  against  them — or  prac- 
tically so.  Not  only  this,  but  he  must  have  his 
clerks  do  likewise.  This  is  not  so  easy  a  matter  as 
it  might  seem,  and  in  most  cases  the  storekeeper 
finds  himself  constantly  allowing  a  "slow  customer" 
to  increase,  rather  than  forcing  him  to  diminish,  his 
balance. 

Inevitably  the  result  of  doing  this  kind  of  a  busi- 
ness is  that  the  merchant  is  finally  forced  to  ask 
his  jobber  to  carry  him.  When  he  reaches  this 
stage  his  first  inclination,  generally  speaking,  is  to 
think  that  by  spreading  out  and  dealing  with  other 
jobbers,  as  a  temporary  measure,  he  can  cover  his 
situation  in  the  eyes  of  the  jobber  with  whom  he 
has  previously  placed  the  burden  of  his  trade. 

Instead  of  concealing  his  predicament,  this  ex- 
pedient is  a  sure  way  of  giving  notice  to  the  credit 
man  of  his  old  jobbing  house  that  he  is  in  hard 
straits,  for  no  modern  credit  man  fails  to  understand 
the  significance  of  this  process  of  "spreading  out" 
when  the  merchant  in  question  is  a  little  slow  in  his 
payments. 

The  only  safe  course  for  the  storekeeper  who 
finds  himself  in  these  straits  is  to  go  to  his  jobber 
and  give  him  full  information,  and  to  keep  his 
indebtedness  bunched  together  instead  of  scattered 

207 


THE   MAKING   OF  A   MERCHANT 

about.  If  the  man  is  worth  saving,  the  jobber 
principally  interested  will  give  him  the  support  of 
extended  credit  and  will  also  aid  him  by  sound 
advice  and  practical  suggestions  suited  to  his  indi- 
vidual needs. 

When  the  unfortunate  and  deluded  storekeeper 
follows  an  opposite  course  and  attempts  to  cover 
his  embarrassment  by  spreading  out  to  new  jobbers 
the  result  will  be  that  the  old  jobber,  or  perhaps 
some  of  the  ones  to  whom  he  has  shifted,  will  realize 
that  "the  race  is  to  the  swift,"  and  that  the  first  man 
to  close  in  on  the  unstable  customer  will  be  likely 
to  get  the  most  out  of  him. 

I  know  one  decidedly  successful  merchant  who 
determined  to  make  his  credits  according  to  a  fixed 
principle,  and  that  he  would  not  vary  his  system 
under  any  conditions.  Nominally,  he  was  supposed 
to  do  a  cash  business,  but  at  last  felt  that  he  must 
extend  credit  to  a  portion  of  his  customers.  He  did 
it  in  this  way :  He  would  not  even  discuss  the  open- 
ing of  an  account  with  a  customer  about  whom  he 
felt  any  doubt  whatever;  then,  when  the  man  came 
in  to  arrange  for  an  account,  the  merchant  asked 
him :  "How  much  of  a  line  of  credit  do  you  wish 
me  to  give  you?" 

"Well  $50,"  responded  the  customer. 

20$ 


THE  MAKING  OF  A   MERCHANT 

"And  how  about  the  question  of  time?"  inquired 
the  storekeeper. 

"Make  it  sixty  days,"  replied  the  customer. 

"Very  well,"  answered  the  storekeeper,  "I  will 
give  you  just  what  you  ask  for  in  the  matter  of 
credit,  and  will  make  the  memorandum  right  here 
on  the  ledger  page  which  will  carry  your  account. 
But  let  us  understand  one  thing  clearly,  right  from 
the  start.  You  are  not  to  ask  me  for  five  cents 
more  than  the  amount  of  credit  I  have  given  you, 
nor  are  you  to  ask  me  for  an  extension  of  time. 
Certainly  you  can't  complain  at  my  making  this 
rule  rigid,  when  I  have  given  you  at  the  beginning 
all  that  you  have  asked  for.  You  have  set  your  own 
stakes,  and  cannot  reasonably  resent  it,  if  you  are 
asked  to  abide  by  them." 

This  system  of  credit  worked  admirably  in  the 
case  of  the  storekeeper  to  whom  I  referred,  for  the 
reason  that  he  held  every  customer  rigidly  to  the 
limitations  fixed  at  the  outset. 

These  views  are  offered  simply  as  the  conclusions 
of  one  credit  man  based  upon  his  personal  experi- 
ence, and  if  their  expression  seems  didactic  it  is  his 
misfortune,  for  they  are  not  so  intended.  Let  them 
be  accepted,  therefore,  as  the  personal  opinions  of 
one  who  does  not  assume  to  speak  with  authority, 

209 


THE   MAKING   OF   A    MERCHANT 

but  is  willing  to  give  to  those  engaged  in  this  line 
of  work  the  benefit  of  a  frank  statement  of  the 
problems  which  have  come  to  him  and  of  the  con- 
clusions and  impressions  they  have  left  with  him. 


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